Lynda Carter

Few gay icons have so seamlessly spanned the yawning gap between lesbian infatuation and gay worship as Wonder Woman.

While the Judy Garland mystique is lost on most lesbians and Martina Navratilova is about as foreign as she sounds to the boys, not so with Wonder Women. The girls all wanted to bed her and the guys wanted to BE her. After all, who can resist a woman in short shorts and a cape?

But Lynda Carter, who portrayed the Amazonian princess on television from 1975-1979, was pretty much clueless about her gay following at the time. In a recent interview with The BottomLine she describes the day she found out. "My kids were really small-it was 18 or 20 years ago and there weren't that many gay and lesbian magazines out there talking to celebrities," she remembered. "I agreed to do this interview ... and this woman came over.

She was very nice and very well-spoken and she's saying these things about this rally and that. Then she stopped and said, 'You don't know, do you?' And I said, 'Know what?' And she said, 'You're like an icon in the gay community.' And I said, 'Really?' She started telling me this and that, and I said, 'God, I feel like I've finally arrived!' Because if you have the support of the gay and lesbian community, it is, I think, such a privilege." While the LGBT obsession may have been a delightful surprise to Carter, the superhero's broad appeal was no accident. Carter, who will be bringing her show to the desert later this month (she is also an accomplished singer-more on this later), cites Wonder Woman's accessibility and humility as key factors in turning the DC Comics superhero into a multimedia phenomenon-a phenomenon she thinks needs revisiting.

Carter believes that even 30 years later, Wonder Woman would be as popular today as ever. "I think she'd be even more popular! I think she'd be fantastic," she says. "It's an archetype, you know. You have people like Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton - even Sarah Palin, whether you like her or not. They're out there... . Strong women who work, raised a family, but are really smart and intellectual, and that's not a bad thing. They don't have to dumb themselves down ... Every step that we all take-you and I and other women who are out there working-it's a step for my daughter when she's out in the workplace. Every good thing we do is a step for our daughters and granddaughters."

When asked whether she would do Wonder Woman over again, she affirms without skipping a beat' "I would've done it for free! I'd still do it," she says. "It was a role, but it was also a persona, an idea, a piece of various peoples' lives as it was mine." For those who don't know the lore of Diana Prince a.k.a. Wonder Woman, she was a member of an all-female tribe of Amazons, created by Dr. William Moulton Marston (Psy.D.), as a "distinctly feminist role model whose mission was to bring the Amazon ideals of love, peace and sexual equality to a world torn by the hatred of men." Her powers included super strength, super speed, stamina and flight. She used her Lasso of Truth (which forced those bound by it to tell the truth), a pair of indestructible bracelets and the ability to fly unaided.

While Wonder Woman might be considered a textbook feminist, she was hardly a man-hater, says Carter. "She wasn't against men; she wasn't against anyone! She was just who she was." The same can be said about Carter herself, whose own life was guided by strong women, most notably her mother and other examples she'd seen throughout her life. "I grew up in an era, not against men-because I've always had a lot of wonderful men in my life-but for women. And my theory really is that our mothers-based on my generation-our mothers were the ones who, in their young lives, went to work to take over the jobs for men who were away at war...So I grew up with a mother who was always telling me, "You can be whatever you make up your mind to be.' I just had a feeling that if I didn't do it, no one was going to do it for me.

I had to be able to stand on my own two feet. I didn't come from a well-to-do family; I had to make it on my own. "Lynda's road to success stepped off in Tempe, Arizona, where she had gotten a singing gig at the tender age of 14-long before beauty pageants, Maybelline modeling and Wonder Woman. "Singing is in my soul," she says. "I grew up in Arizona with juke joints music, old 78s that my mom used to play, Chuck Berry and all the old rock and roll, and country, of course. But I love the blues. "I've been singing for a long, long, long time. It's what I always did; it's what I did before I became an actor and in the middle of. Then I had my family and I didn't want to take them on the road, because I'd been on the road all of my life, singing in clubs and joints and honky-tonks and jazz bars-everywhere.

"After gaining national fame by winning Miss World USA in 1972, representing Arizona, Carter quit the road and moved to Los Angeles to study acting. "I supported myself by doing some studio work because I read music, mostly jingles and things like that. I was told, 'Don't tell anyone you're a singer, because they don't want to hire a singer who's trying to act. They want an actor.' So I didn't tell anyone until after I got famous. Then some people heard my music and I started to get noticed for that."

She recorded her first album, Portrait, in 1978 to very little fanfare. "I didn't sell very well," she says with a laugh. But now, more than 30 years later, Lynda Carter's return to her musical roots has been heralded a success with her latest recording At Last, which came out last summer. "We entered the market at number 6 on Billboard. That was really wonderful. And I can tell you no one was more surprised than me." Carter nurtured her passion for singing by doing a host of network specials with musical greats such as Ray Charles, Tom Jones, George Benson, Kenny Rogers and others. "That's really where I got used to excellence in music, the caliber of players that I was able to work with," she recalls. "But I'd just been on the road for so long and I just didn't want that life for my young family. "In fact, her kids, Jamie and Jessica, had never even heard her sing until four years ago, Carter admits. "I think they were kind of surprised actually ... I even asked permission of my son in his senior year.

I asked him, 'How would you feel about me going to London for two months to do Chicago in the West End of London. And he said, 'Go for it, Mom!' Thats kind of what put me back singing again. It was scary! Horrifying! "When asked to describe her style of music, Carter sagaciously resists classifying herself. "Like everyone's music it starts in one place and it moves. Like any artist, whether you're painting or writing, there's a movement," she says. "When I listen to music, I can't listen to the same artist. It's kind of like how your mood strikes you. If it's a Sunday morning and you're reading the paper, to hear classical music or opera is wonderful, or if you're watching the sunset or some quiet peaceful thing and you want that kind of music in the background because it feels good. Then at night, you've got friends over ... it's different."Think iPod shuffle, she suggests.

One thing Carter's very proud of when it comes to her music is that it's uniquely her. "It's based on what I really wanted to do, not that I don't care what people think or say-I do care what they think and if they enjoy it and all of that, because I work hard at it. But if they're going to like it or not like it I'd like it to be based on what I really wanted to do as opposed to being 'handled,' doing what I think other people want me to do. If I'm going to put myself out there I'd rather it be what I like and what I think is funny, cool, bad, groovy, in the pocket, irreverent, seductive-whatever the music is saying-that's the way I can connect with all the parts of me." As for her upcoming performance on January 29 at the Annenberg Theater in Palm Springs, Carter sees it as a spirited show that crosses genres, peppered with some light banter about her background.

"I come up with arrangements for music that hopefully surprises people. They know that they know the song but they're not quite sure why they know the song ... it's whatever settles right in my body. I can't keep doing the same music over and over. I have to change it up all the time. "I have a fantastic band," Carter continues. "They're all session player... a lot of them are out of Nashville, one's from L.A. and one's from New York. They work all the time with various kinds of artists so it fits really well. Some of these guys I've known for 30 years."

Most of all, Carter emphasizes, it's a fun show. "It's not the dreary kind of, 'I'm going to sing the same things that everyone else sings-the American Songbook circa 1940... Those packaged things drive me nuts. I'm so 'unpackageable,'" she says with a generous laugh. "There are a few memorable, poignant moments, but for the most part there's not a lot of 'down.' It's much more 'move in your seat, get up and dance, don't take yourself too seriously.' Of course, says Carter, you don't have to dance. "But this band is just so good that you can't help but move around. You just can't help it!" If You Go - An Evening with Lynda Carter, January 29 at 8 pm at the Annenberg Theater in the Palm Springs Art Museum. Tickets are $45/$55. For tickets and more information call 760.325.4490 or visit psmuseum.org. The Palm Springs Art Museum is located at 101 Museum Drive in Palm Springs.

12.10.2009

By Donna Larcen

The Hartford Courant

Lynda Carter, best known for her role as "Wonder Woman" on television in the 1970s, performs at the Mohegan Sun's Wolf Den Saturday, 8 p.m. Carter, who won the Miss World USA title in 1972 while representing Arizona, began her professional a career as a singer. Show is for ages 21 and over.

12.7.2009

The Kennedy Center Honors

By Paul Farhi

The great thing about the Kennedy Center Honors show isn't the honorees themselves -- though they're pretty great, or they wouldn't be honorees in the first place -- but the kind of high-low cultural mash-ups that celebrate their life's work. The nearly three-hour performance is like the world's most glittering variety revue, the best "Ed Sullivan Show" ever.

In one made-for-TV evening Sunday night at the Kennedy Center, you got: a mini-opera recital, a madcap Broadway medley, a rock and jazz concert and a whole bunch of famous and accomplished people who've probably never encountered each other before and likely won't again. Jack Black and Aretha Franklin? Philip Seymour Hoffman and Eddie Vedder? Yeah.

With the five rainbow-ribbon-bedecked honorees -- Mel Brooks,Dave Brubeck,Grace Bumbry,Robert De Niro and Bruce Springsteen -- sitting next to the president and Michelle Obama, Vice President Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in the first row of the mezzanine, the Kennedy Center rolled out the tributes in song, dance, film and speeches.

Each of the big five got his or her due, but Springsteen, perhaps as you might expect, got the rousing finale. Before a backdrop of the Asbury Park, N.J., boardwalk, a gloriously loud band punched out some familiar Springsteen songs, including "Glory Days" and "Tenth Avenue Freezeout," before John Mellencamp blasted "Born in the U.S.A." The very proper tuxedoed-and-begowned crowd couldn't resist a lusty "Bruuuuuce!" Sting, Ben Harper, Melissa Etheridge, Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland -- all of them took a whack at the Boss's catalogue.

Springsteen, sitting to Michelle Obama's immediate right, mostly took it all in, beaming, head bobbing in time. As is customary, neither he nor the other honorees took the stage to accept the awards. But Sting, supported by a massive chorus, got the president, Springsteen and the crowd on its feet with a singalong version of "The Rising."

There were quieter moments, too. The tribute to De Niro was almost a solemn affair, but one with massive star power. Meryl Streep, who starred with De Niro in "The Deer Hunter," praised his acting talent but also attested to his loyalty and friendship. Martin Scorsese, who directed De Niro in some of his most memorable roles ("Mean Streets," "Taxi Driver," "The King of Comedy," "Raging Bull," "Goodfellas" and on and on), said De Niro "saw humanity in [characters] who at first glance seemed inhuman."

Then he gave way to a stageful of former De Niro co-stars -- Sharon Stone, Edward Norton, Harvey Keitel and Ben Stiller, who traded praise for the man. Stiller noted that he, like De Niro, has won some acting accolades, too, like "two Teen Choice Awards. . . . So I think the Kennedy Center Honor evens things out."

Aretha Franklin, wrapped in a light-blue sari (did she miss the state dinner for the Indian prime minister?), led off the accolades for Bumbry, a revered opera singer and teacher. Franklin, who acknowledged that she knew something about being a diva, called her "Amazing Grace," a girl from a modest background from the Midwest who grew into one of the world's great sopranos and mezzo-sopranos.

Bumbry is the least widely known of the honorees, her triumphs occurring primarily in Europe, and many more than a generation ago. She was the only one of the five honorees who is from the fine arts, and the only woman and African American in the group.

Brubeck's salute came, appropriately, on his birthday, his 89th. Herbie Hancock offered, "Dave Brubeck is the reason I don't have a day job." When Hancock was a young man, he said, "if you were playing Dave's music on your stereo, you were cool." Brubeck's most famous song, "Take Five," overshadows much of his work, but it's not like he's a one-hit wonder. A jazz quintet, abetted by the U.S. Army's Jazz Ambassadors big band and Hancock, ripped through "Take Five," and then swung into a stomping take on Brubeck's "Blue Rondo a la Turk." Brubeck's four sons chipped in piano, trombone, trumpet and drum solos in their father's honor.

Brooks's sequence was the most merrily daffy, and how could it fail to be? It started pleasantly enough -- with Frank Langella singing the forgotten theme song from the all-but-forgotten Brooks film "The Twelve Chairs" -- but revved quickly into absurdist Brooksian territory. Martin Short rode a full-size palomino (plastic) while singing the theme from "Blazing Saddles," followed by Black as a singing Robin Hood from "Men in Tights."

Segue to Harry Connick Jr. crooning "High Anxiety" from atop a moving stage lift, thence to dancing Nazis and headdress-wearing showgirls from "The Producers" ("Glee's" Matthew Morrison serving as the Nazi emcee). Matthew Broderick restored order with "I Want to Be a Producer," from Brooks's huge Broadway hit. (The entire sequence was directed by Susan Stroman, who directed the multiple-Tony Award-winning show in New York.)

Jon Stewart, introducing the Springsteen segment, offered perhaps the single most concise description of the Boss: "I believe that Bob Dylan and James Brown had a baby." Added Stewart, "Whenever I see Bruce Springsteen do anything, he empties the tank every time, bar none."

In the chaotic A-list traffic jam that was the red-carpet arrivals before the show, Brooks, De Niro and Springsteen (who arrived concurrently with Aretha Franklin) breezed through the line, oblivious to the massed press (or maybe just late). But at least Brooks set up his arrival with a gag.

Carl Reiner, Brooks's old friend and collaborator ("The 2,000 Year Old Man") tipped reporters that Brooks had turned down the Kennedy Center Honors twice before. Ask him why, Reiner coached the waiting media. Replied Brooks when asked, "Because I didn't like what they were serving."

CBS will broadcast two hours of highlights from the gala on Dec. 29 at 9 p.m.

Lynda in the Media:

Fall 2009 Lynda's Audio Interview:

Majic 100 Radio

Listen to Radio Interview: Majic 100 Radio

Audio Interview with Lynda, Part 1

Audio Interview with Lynda, Part 2

Audio Interview with Lynda, Part 3

Audio Interview with Lynda, Part 4

12.6.2009

Lynda Carter and husband Robert Altman attend the 32nd Kennedy Center Honors

12.6.2009

Lynda Carter - The 32nd Kennedy Center Honors in Washington, December 6, 2009

Kevin Mazur/WireImage.com

12.6.2009

WONDER OF IT ALL: Lynda Carter talks with reporters on the red carpet.

Bill O' Leary/Washington Post

12.6.2009

32nd Kennedy Center Honors(Lynda Carter)

12.5.2009

Lynda Carter

poses for photographers on the red carpet before the 32nd Kennedy Center Honors

at Kennedy Center Hall of States on December 6, 2009 in Washington, DC. - ...

The annual Cool Kids Table, non-honorees division: Lynda Carter, Cal Ripken, their spouses, always seeming to have fun. ...

Actress Lynda Carter arrives at the State Department for the Kennedy Center Honors Gala Dinner on Saturday, Dec. 5, 2009 in Washington.

11.18.2009

10.30.2009

Washington Examiner

Special Appearances By Lynda:

National Symphony Orchestra Conductor Brad Lubman and the NSO play Steven Reineke's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow with narrator Lynda Carter and music from other scary tales in this fun and lively orchestral concert. Age 5+. * Nov 1, 2009 * 1 hour *

Entertainment Symphony brings 'Spooky Sounds and Scary Tales' to Kennedy Center By: Emily Cary Special to the Examiner October 30, 2009

Children adore scary music, especially when they are in safe surroundings with family at hand. They will be in their element at the National Symphony Orchestra Family Concert as Brad Lubman conducts Spooky Sounds and Scary Tales from the podium and Wonder Woman Lynda Carter narrates Steven Reineke's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." "This is a very effective piece that completely fits the imagery of the story," Lubman says. "I have two daughters and remember their fascination at hearing something new. The idea that you're sharing something you love is so motivating and a lot of fun in this case. It's like going trick and treating." Indeed, the Halloween theme will prevail throughout the Kennedy Center Concert Hall.

To add to the festivities, everyone on stage and most in the audience will be hiding behind their own original costumes. Could there be an Ichabod Crane or a Headless Horseman among them? The gloriously scary program guarantees everyone tingling spines from the moment Lubman gives the downbeat for Falla's "Ritual Fire Dance." Imagination will take flight during the Witch's Ride from "Hansel and Gretel" and Stravinsky's "Infernal Dance" from "The Firebird." And few pieces elicit more thrills and chills than Rimsky-Korsakov's arrangement of Mussorgsky's "Night on Bald Mountain" or Saint-Saens' "Danse macabre."

More than one young listener will exit this festive and fearsome event puzzling about where the dancing skeletons go when the cock crows. Lubman knows all about discovering the magic of music. Growing up on Long Island, he played in the school band and often attended the New York Philharmonic concerts. He was especially drawn to the percussion instruments and conducting, and soon was teaching himself to conduct. After a friend returning from music camp introduced him to Mahler's First Symphony, he was so surprised by the composer's nontraditional modes of musical expression that he was motivated to organize an ensemble.

During the 25 years he has been conducting, he has rarely repeated a working to his fondness for exploring new music.

His love of variety has paired him with such artists as Elliott Carter, Pierre Boulez, Elvis Costello, Steve Reich and Oliver Knussen, with whom he studied at Tanglewood Music Center on a Fellowship in Composition.

From 1989-94, he was assistant conductor to Knussen at Tanglewood. As associate professor of conducting and ensembles at Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., he is pleased that his students do not feel limited to choosing between performing with an orchestra and teaching. Instead, they are forming their own ensembles and finding new ways to express themselves in both classical and contemporary music.

"I hope that each child attending the NSO program will come away having been turned on by something, perhaps a piece of music, an instrument, or a sound so alluring and captivating they can't wait to hear more," he says.

"I always love live music and seeing an orchestra. There's nothing like a huge body of musicians on stage to open young minds. It would not surprise me if there is a star of tomorrow in the audience."

10.28.2009

Making Up America

Makeup Artist's Blog: How to's & Who's Who from D.C.

DC Housewife: Make that Compassionate Business Lynda Erkiletian, owner of T.H.E Artist Agency is tops with Making Up America. She is the reason this blog exists. Thank you, Lynda, for making it possible for me to pursue my dream and for your guidance in finding a niche for my makeup artistry. When I first met Lynda, she was the epitome of style + business acumen + caring agent= compassionate business super woman. A rare equation in the Modeling and Styling world, she created a boutique agency that celebrated its 2oth Birthday just a few years ago. The D.C. market has so many interesting people, whose lives have been pivotal in the making of America. D.C. is the hub of government and politics, and now getting noticed in the area of entertainment and fashion. From the excitement generated by the Obama's to the focus now on women, who work and thrive in the Nation's Capitol, you will hopefully be exposed to more of the inner workings of what makes this town tick. We are interested to see if the show reveals the side of Lynda, who cares deeply about people and is an amazing hostess, philanthropist, mother and business woman. Making Up America welcomes Bravo's interest in Lynda's life and influence in the Washington, D.C. area. Cheers to Lynda and the Capitol City!!

Halloween Icon: Wonder Woman Lynda Carter

: photo by sarah l. voisin for washington post/ makeup by susan heydt

The image of Wonder Woman from the 1970s was very vivid in my mind as I accepted the job to do Lynda Cartersmakeup.

Aside from Kevin Costner and Hillary Clinton,

Lynda Carter is the only other person I was tremendously concerned about getting done just right.

Here was the former Miss World semifinalist, Maybelline Model and icon of beauty from her hit show Wonder Woman that I was to make up.

I kept saying in my head, “She’s just like your sister….she’s just like your sister….” to calm my nerves. My interest in makeup came at a time when Wonder Woman was popular. And now here I was in the home of this Super Hero.

Approaching me with and iPod bud in one ear and a look of “done this before” in her wayward eyes, I got straight to work on her makeup in her office/bath/dressing room. Next to the bar stool, on the floor was a stack of publicity photos of Lynda as Wonder Woman from days gone by.

No pressure. The PR person let me know that she usually only gives makeup artists 15 minutes tops.

Yet, as I set out to bring those blue eyes and gorgeous smile to the forefront, an exchange of understanding and acceptance occurred. After she gave me advice about mature skin needing a dab of cream blush on the apple of the cheeks to radiate youthfulness, I proceeded to give her my favorite DIOR eyeshadow compact for her next taping of Law & Order.

In the end, we collaborated for way more than 15 minutes. I was proud of a job well done. As I left, I glanced on the wall at the framed collection of her Wonder Woman costume and let out a large sigh of relief to know I was able to capture the magic of an iconic character.

2008 Golden Heart Awards Dinner On Monday, October 20th, over 400 supporters of God's Love We Deliver gathered at the Frank Gehry-designed IAC building to salute the 2008 Golden Heart Award recipients. The wonderful turnout was a testament to both our honorees - Harry Slatkin, 7th on Sale, and Roz Gilbert - and the continued importance of the God's Love mission. The room was filled with great friends and many noteworthy guests. Accepting on behalf of 7th on Sale, Donna Karan said "God's Love We Deliver is literally saving lives every day." Mayor Bloomberg echoed Donna's sentiments. A special thanks to our honorees, volunteers, staff, donors and dinner chair and God's Love Board Member Blaine Trump, whose efforts combined to create this very successful event!

10.16.2009

COMPLEXIONS CONTEMPORARY BALLET has been called the most creative and compelling multicultural dance company in the arts landscape today. As previously announced, this Saturday the organization will celebrate its 15th Anniversary Season-entitled LOVE, SWEAT & TEARS. The company will commemorate the occasion with a star-studded Anniversary Gala, a wide-ranging tour, and a series of performances at NYC's world-renowned hub for dance arts - The Joyce Theater. S. Epatha Merkerson and Alana De La Garza will co-host Complexions Contemporary Ballet's 15th anniversary gala at the Allen Room on Friday, October 16 at 7pm.

The evening includes special performances by the Complexions Company, Maria Kowroski of the New York City Ballet,Lynda Carter and others. Judith Jamison, Alvin Ailey Dance Theater artistic director, will additionally present an honorary award to Complexions co-founders Dwight Rhoden &Desmond Richardson.

Co-founded in 1994 by former Alvin Ailey dancers Richardson and Rhoden, COMPLEXIONS is renowned for edgy and complex performances that are emotionally resonant, energetic, and showcase the exceptional technique of dancers clearly at the top of their game.

The Gala will take place this Saturday, October 16 at The Allen Room, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, 33 West 60th Street New York, NY‎ 10023. For more information and tickets, visit www.jalc.org or call 917-286-2970.

10.15.2009

Lynda Carter arrives

Deborah Norville: 'I Don't Think Anybody Tunes in to a Broadcast Because it's a Chick Anchoring It or a Guy Anchoring It'

We headed out to Michael's last night for a party for Deborah Norville's new book The Power of Respect." In the room, "60 Minutes" EP Jeff Fager, "48 Hours" EP Susan Zirinsky, CBS News anchor Russ Mitchell, CNN/U.S. president Jon Klein and correspondent Alina Cho and other tvnewers. The "Inside Edition" anchor told the crowd, "Thanks to Kanye and Serena and Rep. Wilson we're all learning how important respect is, and why so much of it is lacking today." Even Wonder Woman Linda Carter was on hand.

10.14.2009

Wonder Woman Joins the Glenn Beck Bashing on The Joy Behar Show

By Jeff Poor

Perhaps having a slot on Glenn Beck's former network wasn't enough for the newly minted host of CNN Headline News "The Joy Behar Show." Instead, she obviously finds bashing Beck is the way to reach her audience.

For the fourth time in the 11 broadcasts of her show Behar, also a co-host of ABC's The View, dedicated a portion of her Oct. 13 show to discussing Fox News host Glenn Beck. The segment included actress Lynda Carter, best known for her role as Wonder Woman on television, and who had once accused the right-wing of spreading hate. Leslie Sanchez, CNN political contributor and Republican strategist, joined them to play the role of Beck defender:

Behar: You know, I mean, what is up with Glenn Beck?
Carter: It's stunning.
Behar: And really, can you explain him? You're not in his camp, Leslie, I realize that. But what exactly is he up to?
Sanchez: You know, I think he raises a lot of important issues. He talks about...
Carter: Are you serious?
Sanchez: Yes. You know he does. Even if you listen to his radio show years ago, he investigated what the government was doing.

On Behar's previous shows, she had singer and actress Bette Midler and HBO's Bill Maher dishing out shots at the Fox News host. This time it took a little prodding from Behar.

Carter: He calls himself an entertainer.
Sanchez: I don't think...
Behar: I think he calls himself a rodeo clown.
Carter: No, he calls himself an entertainer.
Behar: Rodeo clowns are funny. I have to take that away from him. Sorry. They're very amusing.
Sanchez: I think he's a likable person. He's a good person.

While several on the left have no problem with some of the baseless accusations hurled at Rush Limbaugh over racism in his bid to acquire an ownership stake in the St. Louis Rams, Carter and Behar played up accusations that Beck is racist, which has resulted in some advertisers leaving the Beck program.

Carter: Do you think he's - a person like him is good for the country? The fear, the loathing, the racism; the absolute inane accusations, making Yom Kippur a Republican holiday?
Behar: Well, calling Obama a racist was really over the edge. That was ridiculous.
Sanchez: There's a lot of things we're going to agree.
But perhaps the most evident example of Carter's low regard for Beck was when she questioned the salary of the highly popular commentator and author with multiple best-selling books.
Carter: How do you defend - how do you justify paying him big salaries and I don't get it. I really don't.
Sanchez: I don't pay him - I wrote him a check last week. I did not. I did not, kidding. Sorry, Glenn. But what I'm saying is he does speak to a large percent of the electorate that is concerned about the direction of the country.

10.14.2009

On The Joy Behar Show

Shepard Fairey Art Project Channels Celebs For Gay Marriage Equality - omg! news on Yahoo!

10.14.2009

Shepard Fairey Art Project Channels Celebs For Gay Marriage Equality
Access Hollywood - 8:53 PM PDT

Shepard Fairey Celebrity-Endorsed Print ProjectBrent Dundore PhotographyAccess Hollywood
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. -- Several celebrities are teaming up for an art project and auction to benefit gay marriage equality. They are lending their signatures and creative voices to artist Shepard Fairey's now iconic DEFEND EQUALITY LOVE UNITES poster, which has become a symbol of marriage equality. On November 12 2009, FAIR, an LGBT grassroots organization, and artist Shepard Fairey will debut a select group of these celebrity-customized original screen prints during an event taking place at the Andaz hotel in West Hollywood. The prints are a part of a marriage equality project undertaken by FAIR to help give a platform to nearly 100 celebrity voices in support of marriage equality.
The launch event is being held in partnership with entertainment networking group HOMOtracker and its annual fundraiser 'FallOut.' Fairey will attend and serve as DJ for a portion of the evening.
The event will also launch an auction of the signed and customized prints on the charity auction Web site charitybuzz.com. Proceeds raised from the online auction, lasting from November 10 to December 9, will directly benefit the grassroots organizations fighting for marriage equality in California and across the country. A selection of the customized original screen prints, custom-framed courtesy of Allen Jeffries Framing, will be on display throughout the Andaz ballroom and pool deck. The Andaz West Hollywood is also a significant partner and sponsor of the event.
Other celebs who have designed posters include: Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman, Virginia Madsen, Ellen Degeneres & Portia De Rossi, Robert De Niro, Taylor Kitsch, Michael C Hall, Russell Simmons, Dave Matthews, Jared Leto, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, designer Marc Jacobs, Bruce Vilanch, Martina Navratilova, Anna Kendrick, Cheyenne Jackson, Sarah Silverman, Anne Hathaway, Rupaul, Kim Kardashian, Kirsten Dunst, Lynda Carter, Lance Bass, Charlie Sheen, Benjamin Bratt, Chris Evans, Melissa Etheridge & Tammy Lynn Michaels, New Kids On The Block, Tegan & Sara, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Calvin Klein, Chelsea Handler, Darryl Stephens and Chris Pine.

In November of 2008, after the passage of Proposition 8 in California, artist and civil rights advocate Shepard Fairey, whose Obama HOPE print became an iconic centerpiece of the President's visual campaign, was approached by grassroots marriage equality organization FAIR to commission an image to help unite and inspire the movement. The result was the creation of the DEFEND EQUALITY LOVE UNITES image. Shepard Fairey's 'Obey: Supply and Demand' show at the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, PA, opens October 17.

10.9.2009

FULL EPISODE

Fuse.TV
Length: 03:08

9.17.2009

Lynda speaks with Billboard.com.
It's been 30 years since 'Wonder Woman' left prime-time, but Lynda Carter isn't resting on her days as the truth-lassoing crime fighter of 70s television.
This summer, the actress/singer released "At Last," an album of blues and jazz standards and vintage pop tunes ) notably, the Supremes' "Where Did Our Love Go"). The album debuted at No. 10 on the Jazz Albums chart, but Carter says she's genre flexible., "I'm an iPod shuffle genre," she explained when she stopped by Billboard.com's studio for a video interview.
"I'm not really a jazz or blues genre." Watch Carter talk about the album, how she ditched a complete L.A. -recorded studio album when she got to Nashville, and working with John Carter Cash in a cabin-studio where June and Johnny Cash once recorded.

9.17.2009
Take A Stand Gala

The National Network to End Domestic Violence is hosting the Take A Stand Gala, an evening of awareness and hope for domestic violence survivors and allies. Emmy Award-winning ABC News Anchor John Quinones will serve as Master of Ceremonies, with performances by Lynda Carter, best known for playing the title role in the hit TV series “Wonder Woman,” and Patti Austin, Grammy Award-winning R&B and jazz vocalist. The evening will include a silent auction and awards ceremony to recognize visionary leaders in the movement to end domestic violence. The Honorary Host Committee includes Sens. Patrick Leahy, Claire McCaskill, Sheldon Whitehouse, Arelen Specter, and U.S. Reps. James Langevin, Gwen Moore, John Tanner, Jan Schakowsky, Ted Poe, and Donna Edwards.

Date: September 17, 2009

Time: 5:30

Location: The Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Washington, D.C.

Attire: Black Tie Optional

Ticket/Pricing Information:

Sponsorship packages range from $5,000-$50,000.

$250 per ticket.

9.17.2009

The National Network to end Domestic Violence

(l to r) Lynda Carter, Patti Austin and Sue Else, President NNEDV, at the National Network to end Domestic Violence. Lynda Carter performs at the National Network to End Domestic Violence's 2nd annual fall gala. (l to r) Lynn Rosenthal, White House Advisor on Violence Against Women, and Lynda Carter End Domestic Violence. Actress and model Lynda Carter (c) talks with Joe Cassilly (r) at the National Network to End Domestic Violence.

9.16.2009
Almas boast Eclectic Music Taste Honorees range from rap to country
By Antonio Mejias-Rentas - Variety
Where else but the Alma Awards would David Archuleta, Lynda Carter and Black Eyed Peas rapper Taboo be nominated in the same category? They are all part of this year's eclectic mix of music honorees.
Carter is less known for her music than her acting, but this year's release of "At Last," a collection of standards, marked her return to her first love.
"My love of music began at my Mexican grandma's house in Arizona," Carter recalls. "I have such wonderful childhood memories of tortillas coming off the flat pan, chiles roasting. Then the guitars would come out, and the singing would begin." Regarding the Almas, the singer-actress says, "This honor is especially meaningful to me given the tremendous pride I have in my Latin roots."
9.15.2009
Find out what has Lynda Carter singing a new tune.
View from the Bay

LYNDA CARTER'S NEW CD "AT LAST"
"At Last," the brand new solo album from Lynda Carter, was released nationwide on June 9th, 2009.
"At Last" debuted at number six on the Billboard Charts.
Produced by John Carter Cash, Grammy - nominated and son of the late Johnny Cash and Johnny Harris, the album brings Carter's powerful voice to an audience of fans both new and old alike. You can order the CD at www.amazon.com.

9.11.2009
By Doug Levine: Washington

Lynda Carter Earns Praise for Jazz Release 'At Last'

Lynda Carter's 'At Last' CD
She was known to millions as "Wonder Woman" on the 1970s television series of the same name. Actress and recording artist Lynda Carter is flying high again with the release of At Last. Yes, as Lynda Carter proves, there is life after "Wonder Woman." But, with tracks like "You Send Me," her new album begs the question, when did she start singing? Lynda Carter was introduced to country, blues and classical music while growing up in Phoenix, Arizona.
She became a professional singer at age 14, but after winning the beauty pageant title of Miss World USA, she moved to Hollywood, California, to pursue an acting career.
While her role on "Wonder Woman" as the super heroine Princess Diana took her to dizzying new heights, Carter never gave up on singing. In fact, she performed two songs from her first solo album, Portrait, on an episode of her show.
Life after the series was even busier as Carter continued to work wonders in show business. She acted on stage and screen, hosted her own variety shows, endorsed cosmetics as a celebrity promotional model, contributed voice work for video games, and sang in nightclubs.

At last, at age 58, Carter has a hit record.

When At Last jumped into the Top 10 on Billboard's Jazz Albums chart, Lynda Carter couldn't have been happier. She says, "As someone who started out as a singer, it's always been a dream to be on the Billboard chart."

Carter marked her return to singing with the role of Mama Thornton in a musical production of Chicago in London. Her recent tour of "An Intimate Evening with Lynda Carter" culminated with a performance at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
On At Last, Carter revives the works of Johnny Mercer, Jerome Kern, Harold Arlen, Helen Humes, and George and Ira Gershwin, as well as the Jimmy Harris melody "Cloudburst."

9.11.2009

Carter: Palin unfit for my tiara and lasso

Gays enjoy "Wonder Woman." Gays also have questions about Sarah Palin (especially her views on faith and the legislation of "morality"). Therefore our "Is this gay enough for G-A-Y?" judges have determined that the following Philadelphia magazine interview portion, wherein onetime "Wonder Woman" star Lynda Carter seizes the opportunity to rail into Sarah Palin's views, totally qualifies for publication. Enjoy:

PHILADELPHIA: Okay, last question. I'm sure you've seen all the comparisons in the media and among Republicans of Sarah Palin to Wonder Woman. How do you feel about that?

CARTER: Don't get me started. She's the anti-Wonder Woman. She's judgmental and dictatorial, telling people how they've got to live their lives. And a superior religious self-righteousness... that's just not what Wonder Woman is about. Hillary Clinton is a lot more like Wonder Woman than Mrs. Palin. She did it all, didn't she?

No one has the right to dictate, particularly in this country, to force your own personal views upon the populace - religious views. I think that is suppressive, oppressive, and anti-American. We are the loyal opposition. That's the whole point of this country: freedom of speech, personal rights, personal freedom. Nor would Wonder Woman be the person to tell people how to live their lives. Worry about your own life! Worry about your own family! Don't be telling me what I want to do with mine.

I like John McCain. But this woman - it's anathema to me what she stands for. I think America should be very afraid. Very afraid. Separation of church and state is the one thing the creators of the Constitution did agree on - that it wasn't to be a religious government. People should feel free to speak their minds about religion but not dictate it or put it into law.

What I don't understand, honestly, is how anyone can even begin to say they know the mind of God. Who do they think they are? I think that's ridiculous. I know what God is in my life. Now I am sure that she's not all just that. But it's enough to me. It's enough for me to have a visceral reaction. And it makes me mad.

People need to speak up. Doesn't mean that I'm godless. Doesn't mean that I am a murderer. What I hate is this demonization of everybody but one position. You're un-American because you're against the war. It's such bullshit. Fear. It's really such a finite way of thinking about God to think that your measley little mind can know the mind of God. It's a very little God that way. I think that God's bigger. I don't presume to know his mind. Or her mind.

Somewhere in Alaska, a Halloween costume is being returned.

9.10.2009

Lynda Carter attends the celebration for Fashion's Night Out with performance by Lynda Carter at the Talbots Madison Avenue Store on September 10, 2009 in New York City.

9.16.2009
Lynda Carter Returns with New Album

By Paul E. Pratt

San Francisco Bay Times
TV's 'Wonder Woman' Performs at Border's Union Square
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Lynda Carter realized long ago there is no escaping her past as Wonder Woman. Though calling to discuss At Last, her collection of blues-inflected adult favorites, standards and classics which recently debuted amid Billboard Magazine's Top 10 Jazz albums, the 58-year old actress knew her role as TV's crime-fighting Amazon goddess would come up. It always does, Carter says, and she wouldn't want it any other way.

Though she spent just three short television seasons in those star-studded satin tights, Wonder Woman made Carter an internationally-known cultural icon. The series also led Carter to star in "a gazillion' made-for-TV movies, a string of television variety show-style specials which were ratings bonanzas for CBS, and won Carter an Emmy Award, and even helped promote her very first album (an opus titled Portrait, which the star jokingly says "sold three copies").

The series also brought Carter a strong and loyal following within the LGBT community, a fact she says only came to light many years after. Now as she tours the country to support At Last, Carter is meeting many of those fans first-hand. She returns to San Francisco Wednesday, Sept. 16, for a 6 pm performance followed by a meet-and-greet at Border's Union Square.

(Bay Times) Tell me what it's like, after nearly 30 years of wanting to record a new album, to have it finished...At Last?

(Carter) It's fantastic! I'm very happy with the finished product. It has the quality in it I was looking for. It has the sense of humor with a couple of the songs I sing, like "Million Dollar Secret" or "Cloudburst," which is a classic.
It pays homage to some of the thing I did back in the day, off of my specials, as well as some of where I am in terms of my feelings about the work I'm doing now. "Where Did Our Love Go" - the old Motown thing - "You Send Me" or "At Last" have kind of a bluesy groove that's hard to pigeonhole. It's a kind of take that makes me happy. It makes me smile when I sing it.

You say you reveal parts of yourself in your live act that you couldn't reveal otherwise. In other interviews, you've said the reason Wonder Woman is so popular is she's the archetype of the "secret self."

You did your homework! I"m very impressed! You can't imagine how many people do absolutely no homework at all and just wing it. I'm very impressed.

(Laughing.) Thank you! So if Wonder Woman is the archetype of the secret self, what is your "secret self"?
Hmm. I've never been asked that question. That's a new one, too. That's an impressive thing!
My secret self is, as my son said when he had me for show & tell in his kindergarten year or pre-K year and they asked me what it's like to have a mom who is so famous, he said, "Well, it's not all it's cracked up to be." (Laughs.)

I have my dark sides. I have my yearning sides. I have my insecure sides. I have my sexy... There's just such a complex part, and it's not all perfect. It's not all "Wonder Woman." It is things that you're trying to change about yourself, traps you find yourself in. I don't know. All of us want to control, to a certain extent, people.
We want everyone to do things as we see them, you know? It's that self that struggles to be understood. I suppose you could say it that way.
One thing I know quite personally that came with your role as Wonder Woman is a massive gay following.
Oh, my God, I know! I didn't even know that until, gosh, may... my kids were small. I had an interview with a lesbian magazine, and she said, "You really don't know, do you?" I was like, "Oh my, God!"
I thought it was great! I'm so happy! There are no more loyal fans in the whole universe, and supportive. I love that I have a gay and lesbian following. I do everything I can to speak out for the gay and lesbian community and against fear and hate.
I could never figure out what people were afraid of. What are you afraid of, you know? It's so friggin' ridiculous. It makes me so mad! The color of your skin. That you're... Blah-blah-blah. Get a life and stop worrying about other people. It makes me mad. I'm thrilled to have a gay and lesbian following.
Do you have a most influential gay or lesbian individual in your life?
Well, I don't know that I can say "influential." I know the people as people, and the fact that they happen to be gay or lesbian only makes me have more compassion for them or understand them in a different way because of the difficulties inherent with being gay or lesbian.
I've met some pretty nasty gay or lesbian people, too. (Laughing.) It's the quality of the person. I would never look at a heterosexual person and have part of the facts which I base my feelings for that individual on be their sexual orientation. You know, MILK - watching that movie, you just loved what he did, what he fought for.
There are people fighting for gay and lesbian rights, and it is about equality and civil rights. It's another civil rights issue.
I have to look at the people just as people. In watching one of my really great friends Martina Navratilova, and what she went through - and what Billie Jean King went through - in losing their sponsorships because of their sexual orientations, or in the military, these brave and wonderful people, men and women, losing their jobs they do in an excellent way, those injustices, I think, are the most influential thing.
Those injustices which surround having the right to express yourself in your life as you want, as long as you're not stepping all over someone else's rights. I don't understand how people think that stepping on the rights of others somehow makes them safe or free or OK. I don't get it.
You're coming back to San Francisco.?

What was your experience like in San Francisco performing at The Plush Room and Rrazz Room?

Well, I started singing with a group in San Francisco. I think I was probably 19, maybe 18? It wasn't far from Chinatown,
I think at a Holiday Inn, up on the roof in a lounge.
I love San Francisco. I've spent a lot of time there. I love going there. Everybody loves San Francisco! I can't wait to spend a little more time there.

9.10.2009

By Shaun Proulx

Toronto

All our hopes are pinned on you

WONDER WOMAN

So there I am posting on various social media platforms that I'm jazzed to get to interview Lynda "Wonder Woman" Carter. The feedback is unlike any other celeb name I've previously promoted.

Richard tweets: "When I was a little boy I used to wear cuffs on my arms and run around the house like Wonder Woman. I Lynda Carter." Debra Facebooks that she still has the hots for Carter and Wonder Woman. On my blog Brad tops all: "No one is a bigger fan than I. I have 200-plus pounds of memorabilia to prove it."

I too love the feminist icon superhero and the woman who perfectly brought the DC Comics character to life in the hit TV series from 1975 to 1979. How many little gay boys privately twirled in the hopes of transforming into Wonder Woman? I know I did. We intuitively knew there was something - we couldn't put our fingers on it at the time - that would bother the parental units if they witnessed it.

I loved seeing a woman rescue a man, usually Lyle Waggoner as Steve Trevor. Here was a sexy, supermodel-esque hero, no cumbersome face mask covering the pretty, no messy cobwebs to contend with. When isn't a golden lasso hot?

The magic of it all lives on still, especially within the hearts of queer boys and girls, I tell a jovial Lynda Carter, not that she needs to hear it from me.

"You know, it's interesting because in my past I think my icon was Bette Midler in her early days," Carter muses about her gay following. "I was a struggling singer travelling on the road and she had her first big album out. It was really the gay and lesbian community who propped her. I thought, 'Man, if I ever get a gay and lesbian audience, I know I will have made it.'"

Carter says it took about 10 years after the TV series ended for her to realize she had her coveted queer following.

"I did an interview with a woman doing an article for a lesbian magazine," she recalls. "She started talking to me about it and I was looking at her like she had two heads. She was like, "You don't know?"

Carter says she's since given much thought to the special place the queer community has in its heart for Wonder Woman and for superheroes in general.

"The truth is it's about the secret self," she says. "It's about that powerful person inside that you know can conquer the world, who has so much love to give and good to do. I think that archetype is a great one."

But where Wonder Woman is concerned, she adds, a unique chord was struck with queers. Here was a hero that is obviously pro-female. "That doesn't mean to be anti-men, either. It was just saying, 'We're a force here."

What Carter really wants to talk about is her new album, At Last, produced by John Carter Cash, the Grammy-nominated son of the late Johnny Cash.

"Singing is really what I do, I've been doing it a long time," she explains. "I started professionally when I was 14, singing in bands."

The LA Times once humorously noted that Carter "sings better than she ever caught villains."

But Carter knows it's always Diana Prince that interests people most. She is surprised when she gets thanked for being so gracious about going back three decades; other celebrities, particularly beloved for one significant role, are often loathe to relive the past.

"Oh get over yourself already," Carter scoffs. "Right? It's something I did, it shaped so much of my career, it gave me so many opportunities and it's not going to go away. I may as well enjoy it."

One question remains: Who will enjoy the role next? In a world in which a multitude of comic-book heroes make it to the big screen, a much-anticipated Wonder Woman movie still languishes, often, it's said, for lack of a star as ideal as Carter.

"I hope they find someone," Carter says. "It would be nice if they cast someone with no fame baggage."

Soon after our chat a mysterious square box arrives for me via taxi. It's decoupaged with Wonder Woman images and sprinkled with glitter, as though her golden lasso had brushed against it. Inside, my very own set of the indestructible magical bracelets worn by Wonder Woman and all her Amazon sisters. I will treasure them forever. No note, nothing.

Such is the wonder of this woman.

9.8.2009

Shoptalk Lifestyle Show

Lynda Carter: Radio Interview with Kathryn Finney

8.17.2009

Lynda appears on MyFox TV News, Boston.

8.14.2009

Lynda In Boston

Wendy Maeda/Globe Staff

Wonder Woman, also known as Lynda Carter, was at fye in Boston yesterday signing copies of her CD "At Last." The disc features Carter covering classics, including the title track, "Deed I Do," and "Cry Me A River" (the torch song, not the Justin Timberlake hit). Here she is with fan Scott Catton, of Quincy.

8.11.2009

National Post
Meanwhile, I see, I hear ... That Lynda Carter wasn't sporting her indestructible bracelets or swinging her lasso of truth, but she was pretty quick with a pen on Saturday, at Yorkdale! Wonder Woman, in Toronto promoting her new CD of standards, At Last, was a good-enough sport when a man arrived at the Indigo store there, asking her to sign his leg, with the hopes of turning her autograph into a tattoo. Later, when the 58-year-old was asked by yet another fan if she intended to star in the next cycle of Dancing with the Stars (as has been the rumour) she merely curled her lips and, serenely smiling, replied, "We'll see!"

Wonder Woman

8.10.2009
Wonder Woman, Linda Carter joined Norm Edwards on Friday to discuss her latest album titled, At Lastreleased in June debuting on Billboard Charts at No. 6.

Debuting at No. 6 on Billboard Magazines charts, Linda covers super hits such asAt Last,Blues in the Nightand “Million Dollar Secret. Linda was at Indigo at Yorkdale Mall this past Saturday signing autographs for her fans and is looking forward to her upcoming tour.

8.8.2009

By Richard Ouzounian

The star.com

Lynda Carter's wonder years

Still identified with comic-book sex symbol she brought to life 30 years ago, Lynda Carter has come full circle, reviving her career as a singer

Actress Lynda Carter attends The Heart Truth's Red Dress Collection at The Tent in Bryant Park in New York City. (Feb. 13, 2009)

Lynda Carter's five women heros

WONDER WOMAN
Naturally! A comic superhero created in 1941 by William Moulton Marston. Later the leading character of a television series from 1975-1979.
HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON
Current U.S. Secretary of State, former senator from New York, candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008. And wife of former president Bill Clinton.
GOLDA MEIR
The fourth prime minister of Israel (1969-1974), in office during some of the country's most turbulent times.
ROSA PARKS
This African American made history on Dec. 1, 1955 when she refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Ala., bus to make way for a white passenger.
SOPHIE ALTMAN
Lynda Carter's late mother-in-law. Lawyer, TV producer and creator of It's Academic, the world's longest-running quiz show.

Theatre Critic
Lynda Carter is a wonder.
That shouldn't be such a surprising statement, because - after all - she is the actress who played Wonder Woman for three iconic seasons on television.

But there's much more to her than that. She's a tough-'n'-tender lady who has known a lot of ups and downs in both her personal and professional lives, surviving scandal, battling alcoholism and trying to live with having been Wonder Woman. The sexy role that made her famous is still an albatross hanging around her neck 30 years later.

Even now, my memories of her as Wonder Woman are so strong that I half expect her to deflect my tougher questions with her bracelets, just like she used to do with the bad guys' bullets back in her crime-fighting days.
" That was another lifetime ago and I don't have the slightest idea where any of that stuff is anymore" she says with a laugh over the phone from Aspen, Colo., on vacation with her husband of 25 years, Robert Altman, and their two children, James and Jessica.

"I don't like to live my life in the past. I'm always thinking of what I'm doing right now."
And that happens to be showing up at the Indigo in Yorkdale Shopping Centre this afternoon at 4 p.m. to meet the fans and sign copies of her CD, At Last.

It's an ear-pleasing collection of various styles from jazz to country ("I'm like a one-woman iPod shuffle!"), all delivered with lots of style and an unsurprising smoulder underneath.

But the 58-year-old Carter isn't one of those stars (Cybill Shepherd, anyone?) who suddenly breaks out with an ill-advised recording that never should have been made.

In fact, Carter didn't begin as a beauty pageant queen, or a sex symbol, but as an honest-to-God singer and - until she was 20 - that's where she was headed.

"I'm enjoying the fact my career has come full circle," she says proudly.
Carter was born in Phoenix, Arizona, on July 24, 1951 to an Irish father and a Mexican mother. Her first attraction to show business came through "all those variety shows that were on TV in those days. I didn't dream so much of being a star as of being an entertainer.

"My favourite was Dinah Shore. I still see her singing about seeing the U.S.A. in your Chevrolet and blowing us all a big kiss every week. "
After a childhood during which she "started singing in everything I could: strawberry festivals, plays at school, all that kind of stuff," Carter joined her first band when she was only 14.

"You know the kind of group it was," she says with a chuckle. "Guys who could play five or six chords and I was the girl with the tambourine.

"But soon I played with a better band and before too long I was singing with a group of adult musicians who played at jazz and supper clubs. Then I hit the road with them and was making $400 a week touring, which seemed like a fortune back in 1970."

That might have been great professionally, but how did it work out on the personal level? What was Wonder Woman like as a teenager?

There's a long pause before Carter answers the question.

"I was a really cute kid, then I got really awkward. I was awkward for such a long time." She sighs. "I never dated much all through high school. I never fit in very well. I always felt like an outsider."
Carter was also canny enough to know that touring as a band singer wasn't the ideal career path for a 20-year-old. " I left the road and went to a model agency, where I met the woman who was also running the Miss Phoenix pageant. In the space of a few months, I went from being Miss Phoenix to Miss Arizona to a finalist in the Miss World competition. "
Although Carter was successful, she knew this wasn't the life for her and so she moved to Los Angeles and enrolled in acting class.

"There were a lot of lean times when the money ran out," she recalls. "I would get a few jobs on TV, but then I would be broke again. "
Then she was cast as Diana Prince (a.k.a. Wonder Woman) in a TV series that no one thought was going to go anywhere. It wound up being a surprise hit for three seasons.

In a va-va-voom red-white-and-blue outfit made up of a striped bustier and star-covered hot pants, Carter might not have seemed like a symbol of the Women's Lib movement, which was grabbing headlines then, but she knew what she was doing.

"Sure, Wonder Woman looked sexy and all that stuff, but I also wanted it to be about how a woman could be strong and decisive. She wasn't against men. She was against bad things happening, no matter who did them.

"I made a conscious choice to be a real solid woman, for other women. Some people thought it was exploitative but they had no idea of what would be coming next on TV, which would be total jiggle city."

After Wonder Woman left the screen, Carter deliberately stayed away from playing more seductive characters, with one notable exception: her dynamic portrait of sex symbol Rita Hayworth in 1983's The Love Goddess.

"I loved being her," Carter recalls, "even though it's as hard to play a real-life character as a cartoon one. When you portray anyone larger than life, it's so important to concentrate on the humanity."

While Carter's professional life has seen far more ups than downs, she has had some personal struggles to deal with as well.

In 1993, her husband was the central figure in an ugly and highly publicized fraud trial, connected with the takeover of Washington's First American Bankshares Inc. by Bank of Credit and Commerce International. Carter stayed by his side until he was finally vindicated with a not-guilty verdict.
In 1998, she went into a treatment centre in Baltimore, Md., after a long struggle with drink. Although she has never denied the issue, Carter doesn't like to dwell on it.

"I didn't want to become a poster child," is how she puts it. "It is what it is. When you're in the throes of alcoholism or addiction, you're in such pain and you feel such shame because you can't control this thing. We need help. We need each other."

She looks at her life to date - singer, actor, sex symbol, wife, mother, recovering alcoholic - and calmly states the one thing she knows she has learned.
"We do the best we can."

7.23.2009
Canada Loves Carter

The Shaun Proulx Show - Lynda Carter Interview

7.21.2009
Lynda appears on The Wendy Williams Show.

Watch as Wendy show's Lynda just how big a fan she really is. Lynda Carter: Wonder Woman is Wendy's all time favorite TV Icon and it was a dream come true for her to welcome Lynda Carter to the show. Clearly Wendy is a H.U.G.E fan considering all that memorabilia she has.
Watch this hilarious clip. For more info on Lynda and to pick up her CD visit http://www.lyndacartersings.com. Lynda's CD "At Last" is available at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, FYE and Border's. You can also buy it on Lynda's website. http://www.lyndacartersings.com.
Lynda Carter, “At Last”

Wonder Woman on Wendy Tuesday July 21st, 2009
Wonder Woman is Wendy's all time favorite TV Icon.
It was a complete thrill for Wendy to sit down with the one and only, Lynda Carter.
7.20.2009

By Heather Muse

Lynda Carter, TV Icon and Actual Wonder Woman, Talks to Us

For our money, there's only one LC on TV worth watching -- Lynda Carter. We recently spoke to TV's "Wonder Woman" -- who served as a role model to innumerable girls in the 1970s and '80s -- about her own multiple identities.
She may be most well-known for her acting, but music and civil rights activism are also among her passions. She told us about life as a superhero, anti-Prop-8 crusader and cabaret singer ... and how hard it is to find Underoos in mint condition.
Lemondrop: When I told some friends I was doing this interview, I had at least three of them tell me, "Oh, I totally wore Wonder Woman Underoos." How many people have come up to you and told you about their underwear choices when they were children?
LC: Very many! The truth is, the stories that people have about that character and their own experience with it and how they felt is interesting to me.
When my kids were born I started to collect memorabilia whenever I would come across it ... I had to go online to get some Underoos, and I had to pay a lot of money. And I had to get two pairs. Not that my son wanted any Underoos but, you know, they're going to have to divvy it up at some point.
Lemondrop: Do you get men who were teenage boys in the 1970s coming up to you and telling you their adolescent fantasies?
LC: You know what? If anyone starts telling me about their fantasies when they were young men, I say, "Stop." These are the kinds of things you keep to yourself. You know, and to be honest with you, I never ever played that [role as] sexy.
Lemondrop: Tell us about your part in the Defying Inequality benefit (a performance for gay rights).
LC: It was great. I had the time and it was a great opportunity. I think there was so much complacency in the forward movement of civil rights in this country, particularly at a time [following] the election of the first African-American president, that a state like California would take people's rights away ... It gives religion a bad name ... I find it insulting.
Lemondrop: I have so many friends who can't get married and it's frustrating.
LC: Right! ... Ellen DeGeneres said, "You know, even with civil unions being on the books it's a step, but it's also a little bit like saying, "OK, you can ride the bus but you have to sit here." She was great.
Lemondrop: Your part in the benefit was your musical cabaret act. What attracted you to that genre?
LC: It's all performance. It's all the same thing. If there are 150 people or 15,000 people, I perform the same. I don't give any less.
Lemondrop: If you could only sing one song for the rest of your life, what would it be?
LC: Oh my God, I wouldn't! It's kind of like asking someone, "What's your favorite note?" I get tired of singing some songs, and I'm just at the point now where if I don't feel like singing it, I'll substitute something and mix it up and go from there ... I'm very confident in what I do.
I've been doing it professionally since I was 14 years old.
Lemondrop: One final bit about Wonder Woman: the one thing I never understood was the invisible plane.
LC: Honey, I never did either! Lynda Carter played Wonder Woman on the amazing and awesome television show of the same name. She recently toured in support of her CD, "At Last," which was released last month. You can stream it at her official Web site. http://www.lyndacartersings.com

lynda in POPwrap Lynda Carter: Where's The Wonder Woman Movie?!?
7.13.2009

Jarett Wieselman

Artists are pleased if they can spend one week at the forefronts of people's minds. To have name recognition for any amount of time is a dream come true. Lynda Carter has been a household name for almost three decades and she doesn't show any signs of slowing down now.
In fact, she's re-embarking on her dream career -- music. As Lynda preps to release "At Last," -- her first CD since 1978 -- she's also taking center stage at New York City's famed Lincoln Center for A Night with Lynda Carter. Lynda rang me up on the world's ricketiest phone for a hilarious conversation that covered her entire career -- from music to movies to Muppets!
PopWrap: Congrats on playing Lincoln Center -- that's got to feel amazing.
Lynda Carter: I am thrilled. Especially considering our economy, I know it's a lot to ask of people but I promise an uplifting night. I really didn't want to sing any tortured, sad songs -- everything is upbeat and sexy. And I've got the most amazing band filled with mostly Nashville musicians backing me
PW: Why, do they jive better with your style?
Lynda: I come from a big blues background so the songs aren't cluttered musically and they get that. They're all about rock, jazz and country. I also have one New York guy -- Lou Marini -- who is "SNL's" sax player and he's who the saxophone playing Muppet is patterned after.
PW: Really?
Lynda: Yeah, that's why he's blue -- because of "Blue" Lou! It's a pretty cool thing, but to try and top that, I am a bobblehead! Her hair is kinda moving in the wind when she bobs, it's pretty amazing.
PW: But this isn't your first foray into being a doll -- do you remember the first one?
Lynda: Oh sure, but I've always said that when an actor gets a doll, part of the contract should be that she gets immediate therapy.
PW: Why's that?
Lynda: Because it's a very strange feeling -- otherworldly almost. They need to remember, you are not the doll! Don't buy into it!
PW: Musically, what's the best advice you give?
Lynda: To always, always, always make sure the piano is in tune before taking the stage! I had a show one time where it was in their budget to only tune it every other day. I said "excuse me? You're a serious theater?" So I paid for it myself because it's that crucial. There's nothing worse than singing out of tune because you can't find the intonation off an untuned piano.
PW: Your new CD is called "At Last," do you...
Lynda: And I had it before I knew Obama liked the song! I had recorded it a year before he was elected. So it looks like a bandwagon thing, but it isn't. I was only sorry that I didn't have my album out when Obama danced to it because afterward every version of "At Last" on iTunes went through the roof.
PW: How do you describe the album?
Lynda: My music is hard to describe because my tastes are so varied. I grew up listening to old Bessie Smith and juke joint kind of songs. Plus, I'm half Hispanic, so that's in there too. For me, it's all about the groove.
PW: I loved your guest appearance as the ultimate mommy dearest on "Law & Order" -- are you putting acting on hold for your music?
Lynda: Not at all. Of course everyone's looking for meaty roles like that to take a whack at. But because of the characters I've played, and my height, people tend to cast me as the heroine. So it was nice to play something like that.
PW: Oh good, so there might be room for you in the "Super Troopers" sequel?
Lynda: They're doing one? Oh I'm so glad! I haven't spoken to Jay [Chandrasekhar, director] in a while. He's a good friend and I've been telling them to do a followup, but they have wanted to focus on the other movies. I'm thrilled for them.
PW: So you'll be putting in a call then?
Lynda: You know, we can always try! "Where's my role Jay?!?"
PW: Why do you think Hollywood seems incapable of coming up with a good "Wonder Woman" feature film?
Lynda: I don't really know -- but it needs to be done! And I don't think it's brain surgery, if you stick to the basic story, it's always about the characters and the relationships. Focus on that and the rest will take care of itself.
PW: William Shatner recently spoke out about how disappointed he was in not being asked to be a part of the new "Star Trek" movie
Lynda: He should have been! He should!
PW: Do you feel similarly about your involvement in any "Wonder Woman" movie?
Lynda: No stumping! Will I be upset if they don't ask? No. I would only do it if it meant something to the story and isn't a gratuitous cameo. If it's appropriate, then I would do it, but if it feels forced, then I won't. An Evening with Lynda Carter comes to NYC's Lincoln Center March 13 & 14 -- tickets can be purchased here!
7.11.2009

UberSciFiGeek

The aptly titled At Last is Lynda Carter’s first release since her debut effort, Portrait, which came out way back in 1978 (and is much overdue for a rerelease). Lynda Carter composed three of the songs on her first album, but At Last is composed entirely of cover songs, “a classic collection of standards that will delight both old and new fans alike”.

Playlist:
1. You Send Me
2. Where Did Our Love Go
3. Deed I Do
4. Million Dollar Secret
5. Cry Me a River
6. Secret of Life
7. Blues in the Night
8. Come Rain or Come Shine — Can’t Help Lovin’ That Man of Mine
9. At Last
10. Summertime
11. Cloudburst
12. The Way You Look Tonight — The Very Thought of You — As Time Goes By

Lynda Carter’s strong, sultry voice provides the perfect background music for a romantic evening or an elegant dinner party. The songs on At Last, including two medlies, are quite spare and subdued, really recreating the feeling of a live jazz and blues session — not surprising, since At Last is composed entirely of songs that were featured in the sold-out cabaret show tour, “An Intimate Evening with Lynda Carter”.

Those who know Lynda Carter only as Wonder Woman will be surprised to learn just how far back her musical roots go. According to the Histography on her website, she began singing on stage at the age of five in a local talent show, twenty years before being cast as Wonder Woman in 1976. The notes for At Last sum up her distinguished career, saying, “
Lynda Carter is an accomplished singer who has performed to rave reviews before sell-out crowds around the world. In addition to her long acting career, Lynda has had the distinction of producing and starring in five highly rated network televisions specials. She has appeared onstage with Ray Charles, Tom Jones, Kenny Rogers, Bob Hope, George Benson and Ben Vereen.” In 2005, she even spent an eight-week run as corrupt jailer Matron “Mama” Morton in London’s West End production of Chicago.

With a new Wonder Woman movie in development, it would be wonderfully appropriate to hear a song by Lynda Carter on the soundtrack, especially as there’s no word yet if she will be making an appearance in the film, either in a cameo or larger role such as Wonder Woman’s mother, Queen Hippolyta.
(A bit of trivia: when asked who should succeed her in the iconic role of the Amazon Princess, she reportedly singled out Catherine Zeta-Jones and Cindy Crawford as favoured candidates.)
The Wonder Woman theme song is so ingrained in fans’ memories of the classic TV series, it would be a thrill to hear the original Wonder Woman sing it on the big screen, and Lynda Carter’s new CD definitely proves that she has the ability to do it justice.

The body belonged to 47-year-old Helen Johnstone. Authorities believe that she may have fallen into the water while hiking on a nearby trail.

Carter did not comment to reporters as she quickly left the Potomac Boat Club.

6.21.2009

CBS Sunday Morning, CBS News

A Wonder Woman Still

Lynda Carter Gained Fame Playing A TV Superheroine, But Now She's Returning To Her First Love: Music
A Wonder Woman Still Lynda Carter Gained Fame Playing A TV Superheroine, But Now She's Returning To Her First Love: Music

Actress and singer Lynda Carter (pictured in New York earlier this year) has a new album out, "At Last." (AP Photo/Stuart Ramson)

(CBS) The superhero proved a breakthrough TV role for Lynda Carter back in the 1970s. Today, she has a whole new career as a singer ... but does she still have her Wonder Woman costume? Rita Baver found out in the course of preparing this :
"Look! It's Wonder Woman!"

It is a role that will always define Lynda Carter, the superheroine whose golden lasso no one could resist.

But guess what . . . Wonder Woman sings! She started singing professionally when she was just 14.

"I sang in everything I could," she said.

Her new album is called "At Last," because it has taken her years to come back to the music on which she grew up, in Arizona, where her mom (Hispanic) and her dad (Irish-American) split when she was a child.

She went to work in a restaurant when she was 11.

"My uncle had a restaurant," Carter told Braver. "It was the summer. And I probably ended up breaking a lot of dishes! I had fun doing it."

She said such work wasn't a burden. "I cleaned houses, too. Now I look back, I spent a half-day in these people's house for five dollars."

No wonder she jumped at the chance to join a band. Imagine the choice: "You're 18 years old or 17 years old, and okay, 'Ill go to work in a restaurant, pay my way through college,' or 'I'm going to go on the road and sing in a band.' Well, you know, it really wasn't a choice."

But she said, after a while "the road really just sucked."

So she entered - and won - the Miss World USA beauty pageant.

"During my reign, I opened supermarkets, I went to bottling companies for Frosty Root Beer, and you really feel stupid putting this banner and this crown on your head!"

But ironically, her next stop was in Hollywood, where she won another crown, in 1975. She says she got the Wonder Woman role because, at 5 foot 10, she looked like the DC Comics character.

Carter herself came up with the famous costume-changing spin. And though the series lasted only a few seasons (on ABC and CBS), the show has become iconic.

"Why do you think it has touched a chord with people?" Braver asked.

Carter said it was the secret of the character, her greatest talents hidden until needed. "It's that powerful, capable, archetype of the 'secret self.'"

(CBS)
And she still has the iconic costume, hanging up in her closet.

She showed it to Braver, who asked, "When was the last time you had it on?"

"Oh, you rat!" Carter laughed.

Carter went on to do a series of highly-rated variety specials on CBS, where she got to dress up in over-the-top outfits, dance with Ben Vereen, and sing with Ray Charles.

But it was her stint as a Maybelline model that really changed her life.

At a dinner meeting in Memphis, she met Robert Altman, then a young Washington lawyer who represented Maybelline's parent company.

"She walked in," Altman recalled, "and I took one look at Lynda, and it (snap) like that, instant."

They married in 1984, and Carter put her career on hold to raise her son Jamie and daughter Jessie, on a sprawling estate in the Washington suburbs.

"Did you feel like you were really asking her to give up a lot to come here?" Braver asked.

"No," he laughed. "I thought I was enriching her life, not just depriving her.

"I loved Washington, it was thrilling to me," Carter said.

Their life became a "Who's Who" of showbiz and politics: President Bush, President Clinton, Prince Charles, George Burns, Elton John.

But the fairy tale life had some scary twists. In the early 1990s Altman was indicted in a bank fraud case, only to be completely acquitted.

"Not guilty! Not guilty! Not guilty," Carter called out afterwards.

And though she is still gorgeous enough at age 57 to model for magazines, Carter struggled with alcoholism for years.

"So you weren't drinking for a while," Braver asked, "then all of a sudden, you'd just..."

"Well, I would want to drink just like everybody else for the same reasons: I'm tired, it's hot, well, let's have a cocktail. But for me it led into drinking to excess."

With her husband's help, she went into rehab, and has been sober since 1997.

(CBS)
It was an offer to play the prison matron part in the London production of "Chicago" that got her back to singing.

"And I got the bug again, went back into small clubs, little itty-bitty 150-seat clubs to start."

Though audiences may come to see Wonder Woman, they stay to listen to Lynda Carter.

"You know, this piece is running on Father's Day," Braver, "and obviously, guys still think you're pretty hot, shall we say . . . "

Carter responded, "Cool, cool."

"That must be gratifying?"

"Well, I think it's very gratifying," she said. "Are you kidding? I love that!" For more info:
lyndacartersings.com

6.18.2009

'Wonder Woman' star Lynda Carter brings her music to D.C.
By: Emily Cary Special to the Examiner Lynda Carter
If you go to An Evening with Lynda Carter Where: Kennedy Center Terrace Theater When: 7:30 p.m. tonight and Saturday Info: $45 to $75
Phone: 202-467-4600
kennedy-center.org Lynda Carter, TV's famous "Wonder Woman," justifies her reputation in a highly anticipated evening of songs. The remarkable singer/actress returns to the Kennedy Center on the heels of the June 9 release of "At Last," her latest CD recorded in Nashville and produced by Grammy nominee John Carter Cash.
"Our program includes some of the numbers from the recording, but about 80 percent of the evening will be new material I worked on last summer," she says. "I'm always in flux and choose music from a wide variety of composers.
All are songs I've enjoyed doing, what I feel like and what message I want to send. For instance, I chose 'Up On The Roof' when I was at the Lincoln Center and looked out at the amazing view overlooking Central Park." The title song, "At Last," became the theme of the inauguration when Beyonce sang it to President and Mrs. Obama.
For Carter, it represents the completion of a favorite project after honing it to perfection. With a new band this time around, all Grammy nominees and players of the year, she looks forward to adding Washington to her recent sold out engagements in Los Angeles and New York.
A hands-on artist, she is responsible for many of the arrangements. When she begins to plan a program, she is less drawn to a variety of styles than to music that works within the context. She sits down with the band leader and begins to consider each piece.
Some of her original choices may be moved around and some dropped until the final product expresses a feeling that will touch each person in the audience in some way. "Life is really 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you respond," she says. "No one gets out of life unscathed. That's the inevitable part of the growing process.
When I hear people say that something happened to someone because God wanted to teach them a lesson, I don't know or like that kind of God. It's simply life happening and your faith, friends and attitude help you endure, go on and make better choices."
The Arizona native grew up in a musical family with tastes ranging from country to classical and Judy Garland to bossa nova. Her gorgeous voice honed in local venues was the ticket to an early career as a band singer. After traveling from Vegas to the Catskills and most places in between, she headed for L.A. and new opportunities.
Acting lessons led to her starring role in "Wonder Woman." After a successful television and film career during which she won Emmys for her music specials, she took time out to raise a family. Nearly 20 years passed before she accepted an offer to play Mama Morton in "Chicago" on London's West End.
She was not certain what to expect, but the experience turned out to be so fulfilling, she was inspired to return to her roots. "When I first look out at an audience, I connect immediately," she says. "Because I only sing music I want to do, my focus on stage is to lift the proscenium veil so the energy goes forward.
6.16.2009

Wonder Woman Sings! Associated Press

6.15.2009

An Evening with Lynda Carter

Lynda just released her first CD, 30 years after her last album, and its good.

It was a very mixed crowd. One surprise for the audience and even to Lynda was the attendance of Cal Ripken, Jr!
She'd also made some arrangements to give free tickets to some Army service members, so it was a feel good evening all-round.

She maintained the cabaret feeling throughout the night, telling some stories, reminiscing, appropriately segueing into songs. She did the Wonder Woman spin. And she also had a bit about how her sax player, Blue Lou Marini, was both an original Blues Brother the inspiration for the sax player in The Muppets band Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem. Not to be outdone, she then pointed out that she was not only on The Muppet Show, that she's also been a doll, a bobble-head and a Barbie.

6.10.2009

Photo Coverage: Lynda Carter Celebrates 'At Last' CD Release At Barnes & Noble Lincoln Triangle

"Singing is in my soul," said Ms. Carter. "I started singing professionally when I was 14, and was on the road performing when I was 17. I traveled and sang from the Catskills to casinos in Las Vegas and from San Francisco to The Palladium in London. She left the road to raise a family, and now she is back to pursue that one first love - singing.
Throughout her television and film career, Lynda has never given up her love of the stage, appearing before enthusiastic audiences around the world. Carter's illustrious stage presence was featured in a series of Emmy award-winning television specials on CBS, which she produced and hosted while singing with such guest stars as Ray Charles, Kenny Rogers, Merle Haggard, and Tom Jones. "At Last" is the newest album from the talented vocalist, actress and performer. She has also appeared onstage with, Bob Hope, George Benson and Ben Vereen.

After her starring role in London's West production of Chicago in 2006, she now continues to follow her passion on stages from coast to coast. For more information visit, www.lyndacartersings.com.

Photos by Linda Lenzi

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6.12.2009

WHAT A 'WONDER'-FUL CHART:
Billboard

As "Wonder Woman," Lynda Carter was empowered with the ability to deflect bullets. This week, she earns one on Top Jazz Albums.
Almost 30 years after the last episode of the beloved TV series aired on CBS, its title star twirls onto the tally at No. 6 with "At Last." Carter's album, featuring such standards as the title cut, "You Send Me" and a medley including "The Way You Look Tonight," is the second from the distinguished actress and singer.
While she was upholding justice (and winning hearts) amidst the run of "Wonder Woman" from 1975 to 1979, Carter released her sole prior set, "Portrait," in 1978. She had sung in clubs nationwide as a teen and later duetted with such icons as Ray Charles, Tom Jones and Kenny Rogers.
Avid fans may remember a particular instance where Carter married her passions for stage and song. A 1979 episode of "Wonder Woman" featured Carter singing two tracks from "Portrait."
Carter previously drew Billboard chart ink as a featured performer on the Top DVD Sales chart. The first two seasons of "Wonder Woman" lassoed peaks of Nos. 18 and 34, respectively, in 2004 and 2005. wonder

6.10.2009

Lynda Carter sings!

by Dave Karger

Add Lynda Carter to the list of stars from my childhood now releasing jazz-vocal albums. Here It Comes. And this week, Wonder Woman herself drops a new record called At Last.

This isn't a new endeavor for Carter; she's been performing at cabaret clubs for years. And while her voice lacks the smoky quality of a Diana Krall, she's got a smooth tone and pussycat delivery that's very well-suited to standards like "You Send Me" or "Come Rain or Come Shine."

You can check out her take on "The Way You Look Tonight" on her "Lynda Carter Sings" website. Will At Last be your new cocktail-party background music soundtrack? Or do you prefer Carter in her Wonder bustier and patriotic power-panties?

Look! Even back then, she had the music in her:

6.9.2009

Add to your Favorites!
At Last, the brand new solo album from Wonder Woman Lynda Carter is now in stores. It was produced by John Carter Cash, Grammy-nominated and son of the late Johnny Cash and Johnny Harris. This album brings Lynda’s powerful voice to an audience of fans both new and old alike. Like I mentioned earlier, even though she is well-known for her acting and iconic role as TV’s Wonder Woman, her first love is music. In spite of her television roles, her love for the stage remains constant throughout the years, and she continues to appear before audiences at every opportunity. She has shared the stage with such notable performers as Ray Charles, Kenny Rogers, and Tom Jones.

Fresh from sold-out engagements in Los Angeles and at NY’s Jazz at Lincoln Center with her concert An Evening with Lynda Carter, she will perform at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC on June 12th and 13th. View one of her live performances on Youtube.

6.9.2009

MYFOXNY.COM

Pop Quiz: Lynda Carter, the Singing Wonder

By: Ben Barna

This one is special, folks. We used our significant pull in the world of "actors who used to play superheroes on TV" to nab the great Lynda Carter, aka Wonder Woman, to answer our Pop Quiz. We got her to answer intimate questions about herself, no truth lasso requited. Granted, the iconic actress has a new album to promote called At Last (that's right, she sings), but still, it's pretty good. You're next, Adam West.

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
Wherever my family is.

What’s the last thing you do before going to bed?
Read or listen to a book on tape—after all the family is home safely.

If you could have a meal with anyone living or dead, who would it be?
Albert Einstein, Abraham Lincoln

What do you want to be when you grow up?
Like my dad.

If you could only eat one type of food for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Fruits.

What was the strangest date you’ve ever been on?
When I took my boyfriend (now husband) to a beauty pageant I was a judge for.

Ever went out with someone you met online?
NO.

If you could change one thing about the past, what would it be?
To know a man more than four months before marrying him (first husband).

If you could be someone else, who would you be and why?
I have worked very hard at understanding myself—warts and all! Why would I start over?

Are you superstitious?
No, but pretty keen on the sixth sense.

First album you bought?
The Beatles’ Rubber Soul.

If you could have any super power, what would you choose?
The lasso of truth and the courage to use it.

Do you think you’re a good dancer?
I’m a wannabe.

Who cuts your hair
An Israeli named Ofeer at Salon Zohra in Bethesda, MD.

Favorite form of transportation?
Private jet.

Last restaurant you ate at?
North Beach Café in San Francisco.

Who is your idol?
Sophie Altman—my mother-in-law who worked until she died at 95. Hillary Clinton—who makes this world a better place

Ever been star struck?
Yes, by Mick Jagger, Barack Obama, and Bette Midler (who rocks).

When you get good news, who’s the first person you tell it to?
My husband, Robert Altman.

6.9.2009

MYFOXNY.COM

Lynda Carter Updated: Tuesday, 09 Jun 2009, 10:16 AM EDT Published : Monday, 08 Jun 2009, 10:54 PM EDT MYFOXNY.COM - Actress and singer Lynda Carter ("Wonder Woman") stopped by Good Day to talk about her new CD, "At Last," available Tuesday, June 9. Lynda is performing live at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., on June 12 and 13. You can meet Lynda June 9 at 5:30pm at the Barnes and Noble store at 1972 Broadway in Manhattan. Watch Lynda's interview and performance below.

6.4.2009
World Wonder

MetroWeekly

Lynda Carter talks about her new album, her upcoming show at the Kennedy Center and the importance of gay rights

Interview by Sean Bugg

While it may be four decades since her iconic character first twirled her way across American television sets, when Lynda Carter flashes her smile at you today it's impossible not to see the Wonder Woman within.

And given her status as an icon for a generation of gays and lesbians -- admit it, you've done the twirl, and likely more than once -- there's a certain level of cultural satisfaction in hearing her speak about gay issues.

Carter certainly isn't afraid to share her opinions.

''If another guy said you were gay, you could get thrown out of the military, just someone suspecting you,'' she says, recalling the early days of the Clinton administration when the notorious ''Don't Ask, Don't Tell'' military policy became law. ''It was linked to all the crazy, far-right stuff.''

Having seen the ''brilliant'' Lt. Dan Choi, the West Point graduate and Arabic-speaking linguist recently discharged under DADT, Carter decries the loss the policy is wreaking on the military and the previous administration's ''pandering to the far right'' that's made gay issues such a political football.

''I'm a very spiritual person and I have investigated a lot of different faiths. I'm married to a Jewish man, I bar and bat mitzvahed my children, I was raised Catholic, my father is a Mormon, my sister is an Evangelical,'' she says. ''This is a nation that has no business regulating religion because it's going to leave someone out and it ends up being tribal. There's no difference from [the] far right to any tribal group you see in Third World countries.''

And that's all before the interviewer asks the first question.

Sitting on a couch in her Potomac, Md., home, Carter seems infinitely at ease with herself and her life. Signs of her status as a cultural icon are few -- a Wonder Woman telephone atop a desk filled with family photos, a Wonder Woman Pez dispenser nestled among a variety of knick-knacks in a tasteful display case -- and speak to a balance between her role as a superhero and her life as Lynda Carter.

While Carter has never completely left the entertainment business, with her two children now in or nearing college she's finding herself re-energized as a performer. Her new album, At Last, debuts on June 9, and she'll take the stage at the Kennedy Center for two nights on June 12 and 13.

''These guys are really good, it's a really good band, it's a really tight show and we've worked really hard at it, so it's fun,'' she promises. ''You'll have fun.''

Then she flashes that Wonder Woman smile and you just know you will.

METRO WEEKLY: I need to get this out up front: I grew up with Wonder Woman and I loved it. I'm assuming I'm not the first gay guy to tell you, ''I spent a lot of time twirling around when I was a kid."

LYNDA CARTER: It's kind of like being a country/western star. If you are liked by the gay and lesbian population, you've really made it. It's like that kind of loyalty. I think part of the appeal is the secret self of Wonder Woman. The secret's out -- the one that other people can't see, the whole of you. The far right breeds intolerance and it's all fear based. I just want to know, what are they afraid of?

MW: What do you think they're afraid of?

CARTER: The same reason they want everyone to believe their way. It's not a threat to them in any way. They don't have an understanding. I have great faith in people. If people come to know and understand where that all comes from, and from such an early age [then they understand]. Almost every person I've gotten to know that is gay or lesbian knew from an early age. And, particularly with Wonder Woman, I hear it a lot: ''Here's someone that makes me feel powerful, that makes me feel free, that can beat up the bad guys.''

MW: And look really fabulous while you're doing it. Do you ever get tired having people looking at you and thinking of you as Wonder Woman?

CARTER: It is really synonymous almost, I think.

MW: Have you ever gone through periods where you're like, ''God, I just want to be Lynda Carter''?

CARTER: I've tried to use it as a vehicle to connect other people. How else would you know something about a person's childhood just meeting them briefly? So I have always made an effort to embrace Wonder Woman. It's not always been easy, particularly if I'm looking very ragged or I'm fat or I'm disappointing [to people].

MW: In the past couple of decades all the big superheroes, in particular ones from TV, have been reinvented for the big screen multiple times. We've had multiple Batmans and Supermans, but you're still Wonder Woman. There's not been someone else who stepped into that role.

CARTER: Not for lack of trying.

MW: Why do you think Wonder Woman hasn't made that same leap that the other iconic characters have?

CARTER: You know, it's an odd thing. I think they try too hard with the scripts. They think it's about this superpower. And it's really not against men, it's for women. It's a dual role in which she needs to connect with the audience. One of my main goals for the character was Diana Prince, who had to connect and share the secret with the audience. I said, ''I don't want to play dumb. I don't want to be dumb and goofy.'' It's that secret self that morphs, so yes, she does have to keep a lid on it.

You can't play a superhero. You can't. You look ridiculous if you do. You look like a cartoon, like Mighty Mouse or something. So I think they're right if they haven't come up with the right script that it shouldn't be done. [But] the baton needs to be passed, so to speak.

MW: You would like to see someone else take on the role?

CARTER: Absolutely. It needs to be done again. It needs to be done again and again and again, even if it's with different people. It's a great story and I think it has all the potential in the world. But it can't be about the bad guys and the good guys. It has to be about relationships within the story.

MW: You were Miss World USA....

CARTER: Aaarrrggggh. [Laughs.]

MW: I wanted to ask you about it because Carrie Prejean, the Miss California USA, has been in the news. What do you think about her and the controversy about her statements during the pageant against same-sex marriage?

CARTER: She's within her rights to do that. It's a free country. And I'm not going to demonize her. She's just misinformed. She doesn't get it. She doesn't know the mind of God.

That's another thing that really kills me. God is omnipotent, the Bible is supposed to be the word of God, then you can't pick and choose what it is you want him to be absolutely right about. It also says in there that you can beat your wife. There's a lot of bizarre stuff in there. You just can't have it all. You just can't pick what it is you want to be the truth. If you want to be a televangelist, fine. You want to talk about faith and glory of God and all the rest of it, great. That's freedom of religion. But taking my freedom away by moralizing and judging, if that's the God they believe in, I don't want any part of it. It's astonishing to me that the most judgmental people seem to be those who think they speak for God.

MW: You were raised Catholic?

CARTER: I went through my born-again phase. I didn't convert to Judaism [when getting married] but my faith is just.... I think it's more what I don't want than what I do want. I don't know what it is I really believe in. I believe in all of it and none of it.

MW: You kind of amalgamate a little bit from a lot of different things?

CARTER: Yes. When it deals with loving, freedom, with personal connection, it's your own spirituality. You're the only one who can speak for whatever yours is and you can't put it on someone else. I don't get why people are so threatened [by same-sex marriages] -- it preserves the institution of marriage. All you have to do is ask someone why they got married. That's what I want, too -- to commit myself before myself and God, you know, to have security and family.

To me the marriage thing is different from living with someone or being a partner. Because a heterosexual couple can be [unmarried] partners just as much. And when people get married after a long time together, it either works beautifully or it blows up right away, you know? Either they feel confined or they feel connected. And it's the same for all of us.

MW: How long have you been married?

CARTER: Twenty-five years.

MW: How did it change your relationship when you got married? Was it that you felt closer, that you felt more responsibility?

CARTER: I'm not sure that I've ever been able to pinpoint what that is. It changes in so many ways. It's either connected or consigned -- that you're marching through this life together, that if there's an argument you find the way through it more easily. You have to. And you have to take the option of divorce off the table. Accountability, responsibility. [Problems are] usually a lack of communication. I always think my husband can read my mind.

MW: When I mentioned the Miss World....

CARTER: I went right past it.

MW: Yes.

CARTER: It's another label. It wasn't a great experience. It was a million freakin' years ago. It's so long ago it's stupefying. It had its place in my life, [but] it's nothing I aspired to. I totally fell into it. I don't feel it was any accomplishment. I don't feel that there was any substance. What is it that Horace Greeley said, ''Fame is a vapor...only one thing endures and that is character.'' That's the reason. It's cool but it doesn't have any substance. It's a vapor.

MW: Obviously, you've had a big role in how people see women as both feminine and powerful, so how do you view beauty pageants today?

CARTER: My experience was an unhappy one to some extent because of the focus. There wasn't even any talent portion in Miss World. The thing I hated about it, after I won Miss USA, all these girls I'd spent a week with, the pageant people just disappeared them. Even the former Miss USA, they didn't want her in the same elevator as me. So I kind of butted heads with them. I didn't like that about the disregard, how humiliating. And I experienced the other side, in the Miss World pageant in London -- I think Miss Australia won -- and they did the same thing. It really didn't matter to me. I had already been on my own, singing all over and everything.

MW: You've been a TV star in L.A., and you've done the celebrity thing. How is it living in the D.C. area?

CARTER: It's great! When I met [husband Robert Altman], I was so ready to have a life with more substance. I don't think that is dissimilar to the experience of many people, whether it's the celebrity scene, the gay scene, the party scene -- you grow out of it and you want substance in your life. And you want your partner, someone to walk that walk with, and a family and stability with friends and people that edify you. Not just people who want something from you.

My husband very wisely said, ''Lynda, you've worked so long to have this career. It's not so easy to bring it back.'' So I did a couple of series that really didn't work but I did a lot of TV movies so I always stayed in it somehow. Probably my least favorite thing to do is to take pictures and do publicity.

MW: But you're obviously good at it.

CARTER: I've done enough of them. I have never really enjoyed that. I don't know that there are any people in the public eye that really enjoy photo shoots.

MW: The only people I know that really seem to enjoy the photo shoots are models. Models always know they look good.

CARTER: That's their profession. I think part of it is I'm out of practice. I really took a long time off from that kind of thing. It's just, after you've been in it as long as I have, it's like you're so sick of yourself you could vomit. That's why I don't like anyone to read their questions to me in an interview. It's much more interesting to be curious.

My whole life people wanted me to be a beauty queen, a Wonder Woman, a mom, a this and a that, these genre boxes. You're not gay, you're a man -- you're Sean and you're also gay. It's just a piece of what you do. You run this magazine. You've got this creative side. You've got this home life. You've got a family where you came from, you've got a hometown, you've got your sports, you're a whole shuffle. You happen to be passionate about an issue. That you have to argue the point drives me nuts. Men also have a hard time dealing with this: You are not what you do. You're so much more than what you do.

MW: You're going to be performing at the Kennedy Center. What do you get out of performing live?

CARTER: It's like if you're a baseball fan being able to play a game. It's thrilling. It's like too much fun to have someone pay to see it. It is a high-wire act in that you have to be on your game, so there's that edginess to it and you never know what's going to happen. I have a general idea what I'm going to say, but the audience sometimes feels so comfortable that they start talking to me. So it's a little irreverent, we do irreverent things and sexy things and I'm hopefully not all full of myself. It's not just a bunch of standards, old music or anything. These guys are really good, it's a really good band, it's a really tight show and we've worked really hard at it, so it's fun.

I've never felt as good about anything as I do about what I'm doing now musically. I just am appreciative of it and I know what I want to do. What happens within a song is that it can go in a lot of directions but it still has a structure. And I work hard in getting the structure in a way that has got the maximum amount of freedom in it.

MW: Can I ask you something that's completely different than that? During the photo shoot we did earlier, you were talking about the lighting and you mentioned that when you were younger you didn't care about what angles you were shot from and such, but things are different now. Does aging put pressure on you?

CARTER: It's just strange and I think it's strange for everyone. Aging is a weird thing because you mature as a human being -- hopefully you mature, or you're just a jerk. It feels like there's very little in between. Unless you're working on being understanding, you end up angry and not very much fun to be around. Now, I think I look good for the age I'm at. And for me, this is what it looks like. I'm perfectly comfortable not having any makeup on and having my hair in a ponytail or whatever.

It is what it is and I'm going to have as much fun as I can. One of the best compliments I ever had, last year when I did the Kennedy Center, some women I've known a long time said, ''Seeing you up there, I know I can do it too. Not singing onstage, but my kids are gone and I'm not folding up to die.'' I'm not folding up and just being a middle-aged. I've got a lot of pizzazz left in me.

MW: You're not that old.

CARTER: You know what I'm saying. That was the right thing to say, by the way. [Laughs.]

MW: I noticed that you have a tennis court and on your picture wall you have photos of you with Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert. Those were two of my childhood idols, along with Wonder Woman.

CARTER: I've known Chris for so many years and Martina as well. Chrissie is one of the most irreverent people that you will ever meet. She's got a wicked sense of humor. The soft one is Martina. She is just a mush. She is so loving and kind. I'm not saying that Chrissie isn't loving and kind, but she has a wicked sense of humor.

MW: Do you play?

CARTER: I hit the ball. I've taken a zillion lessons. If you put a camera on me, I would look fantastic. If you were looking where the ball went, not so much. One time I said, ''Chrissie, I want you to just hit the ball to me. I just want to see what it feels like to get a ball off your racquet.'' She said, ''Okay, I'll tell you what. If the ball touches any part of your racquet you get the point. It doesn't have to be returned. If it just clips it anywhere you get the point.'' Well, I didn't beat her. It's fast!

MW: One thing I regret in life is that I quit playing for about 15 years and didn't get back into it until I was older. You can't do the same thing at 35 that you could at 18.

CARTER: If you're an athlete, you're an athlete and you're always an athlete. If you have the hand/eye coordination, you are still able. That training and the synapses that were created in your brain, you'd be good at shooting. I love to shoot. I'm for gun control all the way, but I like to shoot clays, trap, skeet -- all that stuff.

MW: Did you shoot when you were growing up?

CARTER: No, I only learned when I moved here. There were a couple of people who did it and they said, ''Oh, try it.'' And I said, ''I don't want to shoot a gun.''

MW: You're the only person I know who learned to shoot after they came to D.C.

CARTER: Well, it's not pistols, it's an over-and-under shotgun. I like the whole idea. ''Pull!'' It sounded so upper-crusty.

MW: It's also rednecky, so you get both.

CARTER: Well, I only like the gentlemanly stuff. I would never kill an animal.

MW: Are you the type of person who knew you were going to be famous later on?

CARTER: I always knew I would sing and I always knew I would act. I believed that I would be famous. Some people say it's all about the work. Well, that's true, but I knew that the best way for me to get more work was to be famous. I knew I needed publicity. I knew I had to market. All these years later, the same rules apply. But, once again, it's much more about the work. That's the focus. That's why I don't like to do all the other stuff, but I know I have to do it. And I do it with a good heart.

At Last is available Tuesday, June 9; for information visit www.lyndacartersings.com. ''An Evening with Lynda Carter'' is June 12-13 at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

6.4.2009
Whatever's Goin' On, She's Got It Goin' On

Lynda Carter is finally getting around to releasing an album based on her impressive nightclub act, and is granted almost two pages in In Touch (June 15, 2009) to promote it. At 57, she looks smokin' hot. Her secret? Besides starting out smokin' hot, she tries "to eat for fuel," "gave up cheese and dairy" and cops to Botox-but only between her eyes.

Rather presumptuously (though any other work she's done is invisible), the magazine asks her if she would ever get plastic surgery, to which she replies, "I can't say never because I don't know how I'm going to feel in 10 years. But as of now, I'm not inclined to do it." It's hard for me to accept that she has maintained such a fresh face this long with no help, but even harder to believe getting anything done a decade from now for the first time at 67 would be a great idea either.

Perhaps she is just an unnaturally natural wonder.

Posted by Matthew Rettenmund: in IN TOUCH MAGAZINE.

6.3.2009

After Ellen: Lynda Carter on Wonder Woman, Gay Rights, and Her New Album

"This is a dual role," Lynda Carter says of her famous stint on the iconic 1970s television series Wonder Woman. She means that the role of Wonder Woman meant also playing her alter-ego secret identity Diana Prince.

But the fact is, Lynda Carter, the person, has been playing another dual role for a long time now.

On the surface, there's a stunning beauty that was on vivid display in that outrageously revealing Wonder Woman costume and who seems to have faced down the years since then with little consequence.

But underneath those good looks is another Lynda Carter, an outspoken woman of varied tastes and interests - a self-described "iPod shuffle."

Last fall, she made headlines by saying of Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who had been compared to Wonder Woman, "She's the anti-Wonder Woman. She's judgmental and dictatorial, telling people how they've got to live their lives. And a superior religious self-righteousness. That's just not what Wonder Woman is about."

This "secret" Lynda Carter is also a surprisingly accomplished vocalist, who had a promising singing career prior to being cast as Wonder Woman, and who did a series of highly acclaimed (and Emmy-nominated) television specials in the 1970s and 80s.

AE: When did you became aware that you had a strong gay following?
LC:Interestingly enough, in Bette Midler’s early career, I thought she was the most original sounding person I’d heard. So I sort of ate up what her story was about. I was already on the road, we’re not that far apart in age, and she was doing these gay bathhouses. Coming from Arizona, I didn’'t know anything about any of that stuff. There were all these stories about how the gay population was so supportive and really drove her early success, and they were right. She’s amazing. So I was told, “Girl, I’ll tell you something, if you ever have a gay following you will know that you’ve made it.”

AE: Hey, we’ve got good taste!
LC: Yeah! [It was maybe fifteen years ago and] I was sitting at my home here in Potomac, Maryland, and did an interview with a young woman from a gay publication, a lesbian magazine I think it was, and she starts talking about [that fact that I'm a gay icon], and I’m kind of looking at her, and she goes, “You don’t know, do you? You’re so cool!” And I was like, “Tell me! Tell me!” And I was dancing around. “Oh my God! I can’t believe it!” It was great.

AE: Well, I’m sorry we didn’t get the word to you sooner!
LC: I know! I so get it though. I so get it. I’m such a champion of civil liberties for the gay and lesbian population, like I am for women and being able to choose.

6.3.2009

Brent Hartinger

AfterElton.com
"This is a dual role," Lynda Carter says of her famous stint on the iconic 1970s television series Wonder Woman. She means that the role of Wonder Woman meant also playing her alter-ego secret identity Diana Prince.

But the fact is, Lynda Carter, the person, has been playing another dual role for a long time now.

On the surface, there's a stunning beauty that was on vivid display in that outrageously revealing Wonder Woman costume and who seems to have faced down the years since then with little consequence.

But underneath those good looks is another Lynda Carter, an outspoken woman of varied tastes and interests - a self-described "iPod shuffle."

Last fall, she made headlines by saying of Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who had been compared to Wonder Woman, "She's the anti-Wonder Woman. She's judgmental and dictatorial, telling people how they've got to live their lives. And a superior religious self-righteousness. That's just not what Wonder Woman is about."

This "secret" Lynda Carter is also a surprisingly accomplished vocalist, who had a promising singing career prior to being cast as Wonder Woman, and who did a series of highly acclaimed (and Emmy-nominated) television specials in the 1970s and 80s.

Recently, I got a chance to chat with Lynda about her days as Wonder Woman (of course!), but also her thoughts on Adam versus Kris, the Carrie Prejean controversy, and her decision to finally return to her first love, music, with an engaging new CD of standards and classic songs, At Last.

AfterElton.com: When did you become aware that you were a feminist icon? Were you aware at the time when you were filming Wonder Woman?
Lynda Carter: Oh, absolutely. Yes. I was very aware of it. As a matter of fact, I also felt that my personal character had to be non-predatory in any way. I would be the first person if some woman's guy was looking at me wrong, I'd pop him upside the head and say, "Get a grip!" Wonder Woman would expect that. She was never against men, she was just for women. I was very deliberate in my approach.

AE: I thought one of the most subversive things about the show, and I don't mean that in a bad way, was that Steve Trevor was always the one getting into trouble. He'd fight, but ultimately he'd be captured, and it was Wonder Woman who had to rescue him. It's a complete turning of the tables. She was never a victim.
LC: I think that's part of the empowerment, and it's also the secret self, the archetype that appeals to gay and lesbian men and women, that there's a secret self that is waiting to be unveiled, that is powerful and won't ever be a victim. I think she was a great character, and I was privileged to play that character.
AE: When did you became aware that you had a strong gay following?
LC: Interestingly enough, in Bette Midler's early career, I thought she was the most original sounding person I'd heard. So I sort of ate up what her story was about. I was already on the road, we're not that far apart in age, and she was doing these gay bathhouses. Coming from Arizona, I didn't know anything about any of that stuff. There were all these stories about how the gay population was so supportive and really drove her early success, and they were right. She's amazing. So I was told, "Girl, I'll tell you something, if you ever have a gay following you will know that you've made it."

AE: Hey, we've got good taste!
LC: Yeah! [It was maybe fifteen years ago and] I was sitting at my home here in Potomac, Maryland, and did an interview with a young woman from a gay publication, a lesbian magazine I think it was, and she starts talking about [that fact that I'm a gay icon], and I'm kind of looking at her, and she goes, "You don't know, do you? You're so cool!" And I was like, "Tell me! Tell me!" And I was dancing around. "Oh my God! I can't believe it!" It was great.

AE: Well, I'm sorry we didn't get the word to you sooner!
LC: I know! I so get it though. I so get it. I'm such a champion of civil liberties for the gay and lesbian population, like I am for women and being able to choose.

AE: I'm curious if you're friends with any of the other female action icons: Lindsay Wagner, Charlie's Angels, or even Lucy Lawless who plays Xena? Have you met any of these other actors?
LC: I've met Lucy Lawless, and she couldn't have been nicer. We had a nice conversation. I think how she approached her character, how the show approached her, was great. Lindsay Wagner was a friend of mine a million years ago, I just don't have the opportunity to see her, but whenever I meet a mutual friend, I always send her my best. Same with Jaclyn Smith. I never knew Kate Jackson, but Farrah, we used to all go on the same interviews for the same one part. [laughs]

AE: I read in an interview from a couple weeks ago that you've been in touch with the producers of the Wonder Woman movie, and it sounds like there is some progress. Is there a role for you?
LC: I have a lot of friends over at Warner Brothers, and I get updates now and again, but it really depends on the director and the script. I hope it's a blockbuster. If there's a place for me, great, but if there isn't, that's okay, too. I don't think I would do a cameo. Unless there was a real part where there was something more than just a little, bitty thing, I'd just let them bask in the glory. It needs to be done and done well. I wish them the best.

AE: Has there been any talk of a specific role for you?
LC: Yeah, there has been. Off and on, but then they switch gears, and they're not happy with the script. It's fairly simple. Everything has to be character driven. It has to be a good story. It's not about the effects. Those will all take care of themselves. There'll be some great things, but if they have a good story, just the story itself, it doesn't even have to be very complicated, you know?

AE: I also think, I'm not the first to say this, you're so associated with the role, unlike other superheroes. I think everybody agrees you were perfectly cast. They really need to get the casting right. It needs to be someone who can really reinvent the character.
LC: Sometimes that's a problem. I don't think it's as much reinventing as not playing Wonder Woman. You can't play Wonder Woman. You play a person who happens to have these powers, these skills. You have to play her as just a woman. You have all the opportunity in the world, because this is a dual role. I would never dumb her down. I wanted people to know Wonder Woman through Diana Prince.
AE: I know you are a former beauty pageant winner...
LC: [laughs] God, you're really bringing up all the old stuff.

AE: I know you had an opinion on Sarah Palin, but I'm curious what you make of the whole Miss California Carrie Prejean controversy.
LC: I disagree with her stance [on same-sex marriage], but I think she was used by this group. I think she wasn't well-informed. Anything that is trying to take away personal freedom is not a very good thing. It's not what the nation is about. You can disagree, but it seemed a little bit self-righteous. You do provocative photographs, then you can't go preaching morals. You walk around in a bikini, and then you're going to go tell other people how to live their lives?

I just think it's shameful, honestly. That being said, I do think she's just ill-informed and misinformed. I think that's the problem with most people that don't get it. It's like, how do I make myself short? You want me to become a double amputee so I can satisfy your need for me to be short?

AE: Do you watch American Idol.
LC: I do! There's so many talented people.

AE: Who are you rooting for, Adam and Kris? [The final winner hadn't been announced when this interview was done.]
LC: I think as an artist, the most original person, and he'll be successful whether he wins it or not, is Adam. Although, I do like Kris. I mean what's not to like?

AE: The thing that strikes me about both of them is that they're so self-assured, and they have all the attention of the world on them. I wonder if you can relate, because for at least a few years there, you were just as popular as a person can get.

LC: You know what? It's very isolating. It's about your work. That's not a boohoo or anything, I don't expect anyone to feel sorry for anyone, but by virtue of the fact that you are so popular, you lose a piece of your everyday stuff, of a certain kind of interaction that is important to keep.

AE: I suppose you have people telling you you're great, exactly what you want to hear.
LC: People aren't going to come up to you and say, "Oh, I think you're just so mediocre!" Unless somebody is just a jerk, they wouldn't. It is what it is. It's not easy.

AE: I can only imagine how busy a person is with that kind of schedule.
LC: I was thinking the same thing. When do they have time to work on their music? They're doing the commercials, and the parades, and everything else...Wow!

AE: But you must have experienced that.
LC: I was pretty busy, yeah, but I didn't have a family then, and that was what I'd worked toward all my life. But it was still isolating. I didn't have a lot of opportunity to learn how to be in a relationship, really. We moved around a lot at first as a kid, and then I was on the road at 17, and new in town by the time I got to LA, and then famous again with that whirlwind. I did really want substance in my life, and when I stopped with the road for my children, it was really because I didn't want to miss out. It wasn't just selflessness. I didn't want to miss out on that.

AE: But where do you go once you've been on top of the world?
LC: Substance? [laughs] I'm going through substance, baby!
AfterElton.com: You know, I really loved your new CD.
Lynda Carter: Thank you very much!

AE: We get a lot of material here, and I was very pleasantly surprised by how good it was.
LC: I get that a lot. I did music all my life, it's kind of what I did, but it wasn't something anybody knew me for. I started singing professionally at 14. That's how I earned enough money to move to California and study acting, and get into that. That's what I started with.

AE: You're absolutely right. It's not fair of people to have expectations because you're famous for one thing, but you happen to have this other talent.
LC: No, no, no! I think it's totally fair. I totally get it. That was more my point. I do get it.

AE: I have very vivid memories of your TV specials when I was younger. I re-watched them before talking to you, and I didn't realize because I was too young at the time to see how really daring they were.
LC: They really were! Looking back, I think the same thing.

AE: Was this your idea? How did this come about? And how were you able to get this on TV?
LC: I had been singing, and when I got famous, it took it into a whole new arena. When they found out I could sing, I played Vegas and I did tours all over. Then CBS saw me, and that was the time before MTV, and we approached it in that way, a very MTV way, where it was more about vignettes, the story about the song more than concert stuff. We did have concert things in it, but we really did these vignettes. It was great. You're right, I was very lucky to be able to do that.

AE: The guest stars you had! Was this a deliberate effort to reinvent yourself?
LC: No. It was right during Wonder Woman, and it was really to broaden and take advantage of the fame in other areas. I got the offer to do it and I wanted to make them very special. It was more about taking advantage of opportunities. AE: Obviously, music is very important to you. As you said, it preceded the acting, and followed Wonder Woman, and you've been performing live all these years...
LC: I actually stopped when I got pregnant with my son. I'd been on the road since I was 17-years-old, and it's not a life that's conducive to raising a family. It ends up being all about the "current." It's not about the children.

It's an unrealistic life, and I didn't want that for my children. By the time I was ready to sing again, it was just never the right opportunity. My son's last year of high school, he was about to be a senior in high school, so it was about four years ago, I got an offer to do Chicago in the West End in London, the musical. That really started everything again.

AE: So once you got back on stage, that's what precipitated the CD?
LC: Exactly. My son was going away. I cried every time he mentioned college, I'd tear up. I realized I had to refocus on what it is I wanted to do. My daughter's now a senior in high school, and she'll be going off in the fall so it's been geared towards finding what I really want to do. That coupled with what opportunities present themselves. Just because I want to act again doesn't mean I'll get cast in all these great roles. It's in deliberate steps, still maintaining quite a presence at home in my daughter's last year of high school.

AE: Listening to the CD, and listening to you now, it certainly seems like this project was a labor of love in the best possible sense, and you don't have anybody to please except yourself. I think maybe that's why the CD is so good.
LC: It's also that I've sort of moved on with my performance. The more that I work with these great musicians, it's very inspiring. I work very closely with my musical director back in the day, and we came up with a lot of things together. I may bring ten songs to this group of musicians I work with, and they might do a track for me so I can see how it feels, and then, I take it down to Tennessee and we work on it.

So it ends up being something I'm having fun with because it's irreverent, or I always wanted to do, or I like the message, I like the way it makes me feel. I'm not so much doing my parent's old standards that have been done so much. It's a lot of songs that growing up I knew. I'm gearing more toward that kind of thing, as well as writing some. I don't know what's going to end up in the show the next time. I don't know what I'm going to end up with. It'll just present itself. I'm not really a genre. I'm more of an iPod shuffle - surprising things. I don't really have a bag.

AE: Thank you so much for speaking with us. The CD is going on my iPod.
LC: Thank you so much!

Lynda Carter's CD, At Last, will be released June 9th. Visit Lynda online at lyndacartersings.com.

5.19.2009

Gaga at the Gala

by James Wolcott

Michelle Obama threw out the first ball for American Ballet Theatre's spring season, and with her powerful pitching arm it was little surprise that the seamed orb bounced off the Met's first ring and caromed off of Matthew Modine's head, disarranging his coif something fierce.
But he laughed, we all laughed, because who says ballet has to be stuffy?
Not me, who's been collecting ballerina trading cards since early manhood, apart from those two missing years when I was on my "vision quest."
The lyric spring evening began on the Met balcony overlooking Lincoln Center,
where an array of gowns and tuxedos occupied by socialites and celebrities greeted the gantlet of cameras and interviewers--gleaming notables whom I did my best to ID with the aid of my compact Leica binoculars.
Kelly Ripa I recognized at a glance, of course; and could that be Lynda Carter?--it was, looking resplendent.
5.18.2009

The 69th Annual American Ballet Theatre Spring Gala

Celebrities arriving at the American Ballet Theatre's 69th annual Spring Gala, The Metropolitan Opera House, New York City, NY.

Event: 69th Annual American Ballet Theatre Spring Gala - Arrivals
Venue & Location: Metropolitan Opera House / New York City, NY, USA
Event Date:5/18/2009
Photographer:Janet Mayer / PR Photos

5.14.2009

Lynda Carter The mom of Jamie and Jessica looks wonderful walking around Paris in these classy summer dress sandals.

5.6.2009

Stars and Superheroes Sparkle at Museum Gala
New York Times - By Eric Wilson

Then Gisele Bundchen (in Versace), passed by, saying, ''I want to take that Wonder Woman costume down and wear it right now, but it would probably be too revealing.'' Her escort, Tom Brady (in Tom Ford), quickly commented, ''I want her to wear the Wonder Woman outfit.''

4.23.2009

This Weekend: Lynda Carter at Lincoln Center

Famous for playing Wonder Woman in the '70s, Lynda Carter is currently pursuing another passion -- music, which actually led to her first foray into showbiz.

She'll perform this weekend at Lincoln Center. The actress talked to LX New York about making a wave on the Billboard Jazz Charts. Oh, and in case you're wondering, she does still have that famous Wonder Woman suit.

4.17.2009

Live 2.0

By Jim McCarthy

Why Lynda Carter Loves Performing Live

I really enjoyed this. We asked Lynda Carter, known to anyone born before the 80s as Wonder Woman, what is so special to her about performing live. Earlier in the week, we talked about why we, as fans, love live entertainment, but this turns that around and takes the performers point of view.
Here's what she had to say: "Performing before a live audience is a little like walking a high wire. I put myself on the line....it is just the me and the musicians connecting with the audience. ANYTHING can happen and you go with the flow- that is the thrill. It is the people that matter most to me.
You know immediately if you have them with you-or not!" The possibility of anything happening is what we hear from audience as well as performer. The sense that the event is REALLY happening and not being mediated by a screen or an editor apparently has a lot of power. So when you're at any kind of live performance, remember that it's not just you getting the energy from the performance, but the performers getting energy back from you!

4.1.2009

Lynda Carter: The New Wonder Woman of Cabaret
Marijke Rowland - The Modesto bee

Before she was the daughter of Hippolyta, before she had that Lasso of Truth, before she wore those satin tights, Lynda Carter loved to sing.

While the world may know her best as Wonder Woman, the actress actually started as a singer. By age 6, she had sung on TV; as a teen, she was singing professionally.

In 1972, after winning the Miss World USA title, the Phoenix native moved to Los Angeles to pursue her dreams of singing and acting. It was the latter that came calling first after she was cast out of hundreds of actresses in the title role in the "The New Adventures of Wonder Woman."

As soon as she donned the star-spangled costume and metal cuffs, an indelible TV icon was born. The series ran three seasons on ABC prime time from 1975-1979.

But singing was always on Carter's mind. During the show's run, she released her first solo album, "Portrait."

After the series ended, she hosted five highly rated musical specials with guests including everyone from Kenny Rogers to Tom Jones to Ray Charles.

Throughout the 1980s, Carter appeared on specials, recorded on compilations and headlined venues from London's Palladium to Monte Carlo's Sporting Club.

Then, after her son was born in 1988 and her daughter a few years later, Carter stepped out of the limelight to raise her children with her husband, attorney Robert Altman.

"I never intended to quit," she said in a phone interview from Colorado, where she and her family were enjoying their daughter's last high school spring break. "It wasn't an intentional stopping of music. I got pregnant with my son, so I cancelled that summer tour. Then I had my daughter. One thing led to another. I just didn't want to give up the time with my kids or take them on the road."

It wasn't until her son was about to go off to college that Carter said she started to think about performing again.

"This is a bottom-line truth - I cried every time he mentioned college," said the 57-year-old performer. "So I said to myself, 'I'd better start to figure out what my life is like when they are gone.' So I sent it out to the universe. Then I got an offer to do a musical in London and that was the catalyst."

In 2005, she starred as prison warden Mama Morton in the West End London production of "Chicago."

The following year, she performed on and was part of the CD release for the the 10th-anniversary Broadway celebration of "Chicago" in New York.

In 2007, she followed that up with an intimate cross-country cabaret tour and then last year made her debut at the famed Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., her longtime home.

Carter spoke about her upcoming new CD, "At Last," and the lasting legacy of Wonder Woman.

Q: What is it about singing that you enjoy that is different from acting?

A: It is all on me - no one else takes the stage with you. There is an edge to live performing and it is just sink or swim. You are out there and either you do it or you don't.

Q: Your new CD, "At Last," comes out June 2. What sort of music is it and how did you select the songs?

A: It was about a 2 ¹/₂-year project because I just didn't want to release this first album in so many years unless I was happy with it, unless I felt it was exactly what I wanted. Thankfully, that happened and I'm happy with it. It's representative of where I am musically.

It started off as a collection of what I was doing when I returned to singing. But I decided I wanted a different sound. It was a very polished sound and I was looking for something a little more open and earthy. Some of it is bigger band, some is Nashville musicians. Half was recorded in L.A., half in Nashville. There are a couple of standards, some bluesy stuff. It has a nice, open groove.

Q: What kind of performing do you enjoy the most?

A: There is a flavor in each place. What I work for is a connection with the audience ... I know this is a terrible time for people to be spending money on shows. As musicians, we're so appreciative of people spending their time and money to come see us. We are determined to give them the best show and make them feel as good as they possibly can.

Q: What can people expect from your upcoming show?

A: It is me and nine people behind me. Three singers, six musicians and myself. These musicians are all really triple-A; they are all sessions singers, players. It is such an easy band to play with. It just feels good.

Q: Is it hard that some people who come only have an image of you as Wonder Woman?

A: Well, I absolutely pay homage to Wonder Woman. I always do - she gave me a lot. People ask me often about the movie that has never been made. I think they need to make another movie. This baton has to be passed, because it's a great character.

Q: When you took the role as Wonder Woman, did you feel a responsibility as a role model?

A: You know, I think that there are things I didn't do at the time when my instinct was to do them. Like when AIDS first happened and there was a rallying cry because everyone was putting it in a place it didn't need to be. I really wanted to be upfront about it and I got talked out of it. I regret that. I shine my light wherever I feel like shining it now.

I come from Arizona, as I often say, and I have a lot of high horses that I ride. I've been in Washington now for 25 years. I get irritated with some of the things that happen there.

I just want people to believe what they want to believe, to marry who they want to marry, have kids if they want to have kids. I say, stay out of my personal choices unless they are hurting someone else. For the last eight years, I was the loyal opposition. I don't want to be called unpatriotic because I believe a certain way. I just want to let people live their lives.

Q: How much do you think opportunities for women to play strong roles has changed since the series aired?

A: Not too much. Well, I guess that's not true. Angelina Jolie has played some pretty remarkable women, and I'm not talking about the superhero thing.

When I got "Wonder Woman" in the '70s, the worry was that no one would watch a woman on TV. They wanted Westerns and cop shows and shoot'em-ups - all guys. They didn't think women would bring in viewers. The only females on the set of "Wonder Woman" were the script supervisor and me.

A lot of the things that we fought for back in the day, my daughter is the recipient of. We've come a long way, but we still need to re-energize the young women of today.

3.26.2009

CNSNews.com
'Wonder Woman' Lynda Carter Says 'Right Wing' Is 'Spreading Hate'

By Nicholas Ballasy, Video Reporter

(CNSNews.com) - Actress Lynda Carter, best known for her role as Wonder Woman on television, said that while there always is a loyal opposition to the party in power, the political right wing in America is spreading hate. Carter, who spoke with CNSNews.com at an event to raise awareness about mental illness, also said it's pathetic that we don't do more for the homeless in America.

“You know, the last eight years I was the loyal opposition and now there’s another loyal opposition,” Carter told CNSNews.com at the Green Door gala. The only problem I really have is the spreading of hate by right wing, you know, super right the spreading of hate, I don't get it. I don't understand it.

“It’s inexplicable to me – not to just want people, you know the best for people, and hey, you know, disagree politically but you know I think it's really, really bad for mental health to listen to hate 24-7 about something that, you know, give the guy [President Obama] a break, said Carter.

Carter, a Democrat who comes from a family of Republicans in Arizona, also said that President Obama is not blundering through his presidency and that she is happy with the job he has been doing.

“I think that he’s an inspiration,” said Carter. “I think that he supercharged a whole generation of people, and I like that. Whether or not you like him or you don't like him, he really is, he's really an interesting guy, and he's smart. Now, will he make mistakes? I'm sure he will, but he's not blundering through.

Carter performed cabaret style songs before speaking with CNSNews.com at a gala sponsored by Green Door, a community program that prepares women and men with mental illnesses to work and live independently in the District of Columbia. She said she did not know about Green Door until some of her close friends asked her to be a part of the gala.

They are really great friends of mine, you know, Republicans too, she said. I'm not. I just said yes before I even knew anything about it, because these women are important to me in my life, and of course, as I came to understand what Green Door does, it is just phenomenal.”

We have just neglected these people for so long and people, you know, you want to ignore the homeless people on the street or the mentally ill, you steer clear of when you walk by them, and it’s in a nation like ours, it’s pathetic that we don't do more, said Carter. And that it is a private organization and private money that is doing it. You know, shame on us.

Carter also said homeless people with mental illness should not be institutionalized by the government.

It's very frustrating when we don’t take care of our own people and warehousing them no, she said.

We don’t want to warehouse people. We just want to give them the medications that they need, she said. We want to try to help them in any way we can.

3.13.2009
Broadwayworld.com

Lynda Carter, best known for her starring role as TV's "Wonder Woman", resumes her singing tour this spring in select US cities including appearances at Lincoln Center in New York and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. with a brand new concert: "An Evening with Lynda Carter". Headlining from Harrahs in Atlantic City to Los Angeles' Catalina Jazz Club to New York's Feinstein's at the Regency, she offers a repertoire of jazz, blues, and country in a dynamic and sexy show. Her new CD, "At Last", recorded in Nashville, will be out this spring. Ms. Carter's New York appearance will take place on March 13 and 14 at 7:30 p.m. as part of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Series at The Allen Room located in the Time Warner Building. Tickets are priced from $45 - $95 and can be ordered by calling CenterCharge at 212-721-6500 or on the web www.jazzatlincolncenter.org.

"Singing is in my soul," said Ms. Carter. "I started singing professionally when I was 14, and was on the road performing when I was 17. I traveled and sang from the Catskills to casinos in Las Vegas and from San Francisco to The Palladium in London. She left the road to raise a family, and now she is back to pursue that one first love - singing.

Throughout her television and film career, Lynda has never given up her love of the stage, appearing before enthusiastic audiences around the world. Carter's illustrious stage presence was featured in a series of Emmy award-winning television specials on CBS, which she produced and hosted while singing with such guest stars as Ray Charles, Kenny Rogers, Merle Haggard, and Tom Jones. After her starring role in London's West production of Chicago in 2006, she now continues to follow her passion on stages from coast to coast.

Rave reviews of her performances include the following:

"She looks you in the eye, grabs your attention and never lets go... This is Lynda Carter's night, total and triumphant. The woman is truly a wonder." NY DAILY NEWS
"Ms. Carter has the beauty, confidence and charm of a thoroughbred." - NY TIMES - November 1, 2007
"Expect to hear a well-polished set from a performer who can deliver a song even better than she can take down a bad guy." - LA Times - June 23, 2007
"With a gracious stage presence and winning smile - and looking absolutely gorgeous - she wowed her opening-night packed house.... Her welcoming by the audience....was the longest and loudest I have ever heard." - ABC - San Francisco - May 1, 2007
"Dynamic and very sexy. Combining a diverse song repertoire with a few Wonder Woman spins, Carter provides a pretty terrific evening." - AM NY - November 1, 2007

More information: www.LyndaCarterSings.com

3.13.2009
WYNC

By: Andrew Gans

Lynda Carter, the singing actress best known for her work on the TV series "Wonder Woman," celebrates the debut of her new CD with two shows at Jazz at Lincoln Center March 13-14.

Carter, who played Matron "Mama" Morton in the London company of Chicago, debuts her new show, An Evening with Lynda Carter, March 13 and 14 at 7:30 PM in the Allen Room in the Time Warner Building.
Carter's show includes songs from her new CD, "At Last," which was recorded in Nashville and is due in the spring.
In a previous statement Carter said, "Singing is in my soul. I started singing professionally when I was 14, and was on the road performing when I was 17. I traveled and sang from the Catskills to casinos in Las Vegas and from San Francisco to The Palladium in London."
Tickets, priced $45-$95, are available by calling (212) 721-6500 or by visiting www.jazzatlincolncenter.org.

3.11.2009
LIVE SIRIUS XM TIMES SQUARE BROADCAST

Seth Rudetsky And Lynda Carter

Seth Rudetsky and Lynda Carter were at the Sirius XM Radio broadcast featuring live musical performances and interviews with Lynda Carter and John Tartaglia of Shrek the Musical at the Times Square Information Center in New York City.
Photos By: RD / Dziekan / Retna Digital

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3.10.2009

Lynda Carter: It’s A Wonderful Life For TV’'s ‘Wonder Woman’
by Tom Conroy
Little girls wanted to be her. Little boys wanted her to throw that lasso around them and make them confess how much they loved her. For four years in the late '70s, Wonder Woman(a.k.a. Princess Diana, a.k.a. Diana Prince) fought for truth, justice, and the Amazon way, battling Nazis, mad scientists, aliens, and evil rock stars. It was one of those roles that can define an actor, and Lynda Carter has, for better or worse, been identified with her TV superheroine character since.

Though she's never had another role as high profile, Carter seems fine with that. Part of the reason may be that she's always seen herself as a singer as much as an actor, if not more so. For the last few years, she's been taking her solo act to cabarets, theaters, and casinos around the country. She'll be playing the Catalina Jazz Club in Hollywood from March 5 to 7; the Allen Room in New York's Lincoln Center on March 13 and 14; and the Gallo Center for the Arts, in Modesto, Calif., on April 4.

Carter's musical roots are deep. Born in 1951, she always sang while growing up in Phoenix, Ariz. "I started off at 14 singing professionally," she says, calling from L.A. two days before her debut at the Catalina club. "I earned my first $100 dollars or whatever it was on that job-probably more like $35 or $40." After graduating from high school, she went on the road with a rock band but eventually tired of the grind and headed home in 1972. The head of a local modeling agency suggested she try out for a beauty pageant. "Three weeks later," says Carter, "I was Miss World USA.

After the obligatory move to Hollywood, Carter studied acting and got the occasional guest-starring gig on TV before landing the role that would make her a star in 1975. She took the opportunity to relaunch her music career, releasing a solo album, Portrait, in 1978, and to headline a series of music specials on CBS in the early '80s. After CBS put Wonder Woman on indefinite hold in 1979, Carter kept busy with a steady stream of movies of the week, including Rita Hayworth: The Love Goddess (1983), Daddy (1991), and Posing (a.k.a. I Posed for Playboy, 1991) and starred in two short-lived series: 1984's Partners in Crime (costarring another iconic '70s sex symbol, Loni Anderson) and 1994's Hawkeye (costarring Lee Horsley).

Carter's profile spiked in 2005 when she appeared in two films, The Dukes of Hazzard and Sky High, played a villain in two Law & Order/Law & Order: SVU crossover episodes, and stepped in as Mama Morton in the London production of Chicago. That last gig inspired her to revive her musical career, and she's been polishing her act ever since. She's received good notices even from the usually fussy critics who cover cabaret: The New York Daily News' review of her show at Harrah's last fall was titled "Lynda Carter's Still a Wonder in Atlantic City." A new album, At Last, is due out in June.

Carter lives near Washington, D.C., with her husband, the lawyer and businessman Robert Altman, with whom she has two children. (Her first marriage, to agent Ron Samuels, ended in 1982.) Carter received some unwanted publicity when Altman was accused of criminal fraud in 1993 because of his involvement with the corrupt international bank B.C.C.I. She sat by his side in court throughout the five-month trial until his acquittal. She frequently does appearances for charitable causes and has spoken publicly about being a recovering alcoholic.

We talked to Carter about what Wonder Woman has meant to her, about juggling music and acting, about working with the then-unknown Debra "Wonder Girl" Winger, and about those bizarre comparisons of Sarah Palin to Wonder Woman.

You don't strike me as a comic-book geek: Did you have any awareness of Wonder Woman before you got the part?

I bought the comic books, like most other girls. Back then, there weren't a lot of things available for young girls. There were just these fan magazines, with boy singers. I bought Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Betty and Veronica-wherever there were women being portrayed. Wonder Woman was unique. Sure, I was impressed with the whole superhero thing, but more with the hero than the super. What impressed me was that she was capable, smart, pretty. The only sad part was that she had to hide part of herself; she had to be someone else in life. I wished she could have just told some of the other characters on the show who she was.

What did that mean to you?

I think many women feel that they have a secret self. There are many parts of everyone, the mother part, the wife part, the sister part. It's that there are pieces and parts of all of you.

And you keep some hidden?

I don't think I do anymore. I do a little, but...maybe all of us, men and women, work toward growing as a human being, and opening up. As you get older, you're more tolerant, hopefully. That's what life experience gives you.

How did you get the part?

They had done a pilot a few years earlier, but they weren't true to the character, and it didn't work very well. [Editor's note: For one thing, it starred a blonde, Cathy Lee Crosby.] Then Doug Cramer [the series' eventual producer] got a hold of it. He really kind of fought for my casting. I was just untested, untried. I had done a screen test for [producer] Larry Gordon; he showed the screen test to Doug Cramer, and Doug said, "Oh, my God, she'd be great." I didn't even have to read for the part. For the next couple of weeks, I kept bugging my agent: "Did you hear anything? Did you hear anything?" Then he called me and said, "Hello, Wonder Woman!"

You know, there weren't a lot of parts for women back then. They thought that women didn't really have a TVQ and that they would not be able to hold an audience. If you can believe it. I was like, "Hello, don't you sell your time by advertising? You think the guys are going shopping?" You know, women are the biggest consumers.

Some people see Wonder Woman as a feminist icon. Did you feel that then, or do you feel that now?

As a matter of fact, she was very much a feminist. You have to remember the times. Feminism was really getting going. Of course feminism has been around forever, but in the '70s, we were pulling out of the '50s mentality where we grew up, and becoming our own women, fighting for equal rights and that sort of thing. And Wonder Woman, in the pilot episode, was very much a feminist. But then the network made us change. They thought, "Oh, it would offend a lot of people if we talked about feminist stuff." God forbid you offend someone! Of course nowadays, you've got things like Dexter, with a serial killer holding a series!

But that's how it was back then. And there really were no women at the workplace, on the set, except for the script supervisor. Now there are men script supervisors, but back then that was it. Women weren't directing, they weren't grips, anything. And that's too bad. A lot of girls now don't even understand what the feminist movement is, because they're the beneficiaries of it. My daughter grew up with having Title IX, where she played sports. She's on the varsity basketball team. When we grew up, we didn't have that.

So the options for actresses were more limited?

It was hard to get a part in anything. There was a whole group of girls that went out-you saw them on every interview. There was Jaclyn Smith, Kate Jackson, Farrah Fawce....There was a whole group of us that all went out for the same things. Every time I would walk in, I'd say, "Well, I'm not going to get this one." And then we all ended up with series.

Do you have any favorite Wonder Woman episodes?

I tell you,the pilot was pretty amazing. The director was really very careful with me and helpful to me. Cloris [Leachman] was in it, Red Buttons, Stella Stevens, all these, like, famous people . That was probably the most fun. It was a heady experience. You know, the whole focus on was on me. It was all your dreams come true.

When I was watching the pilot again, I was surprised at how tongue-in-cheek it was. Did you ever think, "This is just too silly"?

The truth is, my character was never tongue-in-cheek. Wonder Woman was never tongue-in-cheek. Some of the characters around her were. But I always find that when actors think they're really funny, they're not so funny. I played her absolutely for real. When someone went all goofy on her, she just rolled her eyes. "There we go again"-in much more a self-deprecating way. It was never "I don't believe what I'm doing." She never played goofy and dumb.

Do you have any favorites among your costars?

Lyle [Waggoner (Steve Trevor)] was great. He was really terrific. All the regulars were. I was so busy-I was in every shot, so I was always busy. I didn't have a lot of time to socialize. Then I was recording and I was performing on my off time and doing Vegas and Reno and summer tours, and all the rest of it.

Probably the most famous guest star from the series is Debra Winger, who played your younger sister, Drusilla [ in the episodes The Feminum Mystique part 1 and part 2)"]. She also starred in another one titled "Wonder Woman in Hollywood." In interviews, she's been a little snarky about working on the show.

Debra was great. Even though she sort of trashes everyone she worked with. Not so much anymore, but she did back then. She was going through tough times, as I remember. She went on to movies and stuff so anything...There are some people who, you know, anything they did in the past is terrible. She was very talented; you could see she was so talented, and a good person. She was just a little confused. I don't think she really wanted to do Wonder Woman. You know, when we're young, we're out there scrambling. I'm sure she wanted her own thing. I thought we got along very well on the set. She did not misbehave at all. I really liked working with her.
Do you remember working with anyone else who became a bigger star?

Ben Affleck played the son of my love interest on a movie of the week I did called ‘Daddy’, which was based on the Danielle Steele book. We had a great time, sitting around together. He's every bit as charming as he seems to be. He's always got that little twinkle in his eye. He's a really wonderful guy. I knew when I met him that he was gonna be a huge star.

Back in the '80s when you were starting your family, did you make a decision to put your performing career on the back burner?

You know what happened is that I was touring all over the world and got pregnant with my son, and I canceled that summer, but I didn't really intend to, um, switch. What I really intended to do was just take a break, but you know, you've got a baby, and a couple of years later I had my daughter, and then they're starting prescho....It was just never a good time. I did some acting in movies and a couple series and movies of the week and guest-star roles. But I didn't want to be away from my family for that either. I had had the other stuff. It can be kind of empty. If you don't have anything else in your life, it's pretty empty. I really wanted to build a stable environment for my children and all the rest of it.

Moving on to today, what's behind your new focus on music?

You know, I started out at 14. All the way through high school, I sang on weekends. I went on the road the summer I graduated from high school and was on the road for maybe two years. Shoot, I played everything from the lounges in Las Vegas to the Catskill Mountains-you know, the Borscht [Belt]-to the saloons in Texas to traveling around Holiday Inn lounges and hotels to other kinds of more rock & roll-y venues. I just played all over. We traveled by cars. From one job to the next, traveling across the country one way and across the country back the other way. And then I decided that really wasn't what I wanted to do, in that way, so I moved to L.A. I actually took a detour into Miss World USA. But then I moved to L.A. and started studying acting

What got you back into full-time music?

My son was going into senior year when I got the offer for Chicago, the musical in the West End of London. When I started singing again, I really missed it. I really have a good time and I really love it. I decided to put an act together. I did some recording here [in L.A.]; then I decided to switch gears and went to Nashville. The Nashville players have a unique sound, and I wanted that sound. Not country, but a little bit more earthy. I ran into some session players that I had known in L.A. that had moved to Nashville, and they're like the best in the world. Last year, I worked with them on this record, and I asked them do some dates with me. They're all triple-A-plus players. They're all at the top of their game.

How would you describe your genre? As any musician will tell you, it's always alive, it's a moving thing. You're always shifting gears and trying new things. So it's evolving, I would say it's somewhat eclectic, but you can certainly hear my Arizona roots, my blues roots, some of it's kind of funny. There's a sense of discovery. You don't really know how the next cut's going to go. That's kind of the way the act goes.

Do you interact much with the audience between songs?

Of course I do.

Do you talk about your personal life, or what the song means to you?

I tell on myself. About the stupid things I've done. You know, it's not a chronology. It always connects back to the songs. But if I'm reminded of some story, I'll just tell it. I never know what I'm going to say. You know, people come because they want to have a nice evening, because they want to enjoy music and be entertained, and feel welcome. People get dressed, get in their cars, they pay money, and you owe them a lot. Their time is precious, particularly in this economy. I really want people to come and hear us because it's such a great band. And I promise to entertain them. It's a very good show. I've spent a lot, a lot of time on it.

Are the old Wonder Woman fans coming out too?

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. They're great. I talk about Wonder Woman in the show. I like to talk about her.

In your mind, what were the highlights from your CBS musical specials?

It was totally amazing working with George Benson, Ray Charles, Tom Jones, Merle Haggard, Ben Vereen, Eddie Rabbit, Jerry Reed....

Do you remember getting any advice from those full-time, you know, professional musicians?

I just told you I started at 14. I play three instruments. I write music. I've paid as many dues as anyone else has. If you're a working musician, you're a working musician. It's about the music. You learn from everyone you work with. It isn't about because I'm famous that I have more or less than anyone else. When you're working with the very best musicians, it raises your level. When you're working with the very best, your own professionalism rises.

Do you ever Google yourself and find something that makes you say, "That's not right!" or "I wish that wasn't there"?

When I have to go online, because I have to approve something, I do. If I read something that is not nice, then it just tortures me. It really upsets me. And so I figure that I at least have to give as much weight to the good things as the bad things. There are gonna be people who like me and people who don't.

You got a lot of attention when you commented about the comparisons of Sarah Palin to Wonder Woman.

Oh, yeah, I kind of got viral on that. I did an interview, and it sort of went viral.

Would you take back what you said?

You know, her being indignant about things that are said about her-she is very indignant and horrified, and yet she absolutely does not care what she says about anyone else. That's kind of shocking. "I can't believe that people just want to pick on me and blah blah blah." But she does not care if she has her facts right about someone else. And she flat out lies and encourages hatred, and I think that's disgusting. She's a public servant and we pay her. I tell you, if you get me up on my high horse, on politics or civil right...

Do you have any causes you work for?

Me and some girlfriends, we started the Race for the Cure for Breast Cancer in Washington. Twenty years ago, no one wanted to talk about breast cancer. Things like that are really important to me. Most of my work is for women and children. I've been on the board of the USO, I've done arts for the handicapped and learning programs, and things that supports shelters, women's education. I do it not because I'm such a good person. I do it because-there's an expression: Where much is given, much is expected. I've been lucky, and I feel like I have an obligation, you know, to pay it forward. And I speak a lot on alcoholism, and I speak to the military a lot, to military wives.

You know, talking about myself is probably my least favorite thing. The only reason to do publicity, it's really to help bring a focus to the work you're doing. I've never done interviews just to talk about myself without promoting anything: promoting music, promoting a movie, promoting an album, or to do something for public service. It feels very strange just to be self-promoting. To be honest, I've been talking about myself for 30 years, and I'm done. [Laughs.] Just picture yourself having to do that. It's like, "Oh, man, I've heard these stories."

For information about Carter’s singing dates, check her website, lyndacartersings.com.

3.5.2009

3.4.2009

Wonder Woman Trades Lasso for Microphone

Lynda Carter used to stop bullets with her bracelets and wrangle bad guys with her golden lasso. Here, she spills the beans about singing, motherhood, her battle with alcoholism and "American Idol."

Long before Lynda Carter, the mother of two teenagers, became an actress, she was a singer. Then she stopped singing after the birth of her son. Now she's back in the spotlight, minus the star spangled get-up she made famous, thanks to "At Last," the CD she is releasing in June.

Wonder Woman -- er, Lynda -- spilled the beans about singing, motherhood and her battle with alcohol addiction. Here, she talks about her revived singing career and her new CD.

You too can see Wonder Woman in person. Check out her website www.lyndacartersings.com.
3.4.2009

From 'Wonder Woman' to Singer!

Lynda Carter used to suit up in America's good ol' stars and stripes to fight bad guys as Wonder Woman, now she's turned her attention to being a songbird!

Carter sat down with MomLogic.com to dish about how she went from stopping bullets with her bracelets to stepping behind the microphone and belting it out for her CD "At Last," which hits stores in June.

Lynda also opened up about singing, motherhood, "American Idol" and battling alcoholism.

3.2.2009

3.2.2009

Lynda Carter Loses The Hero Suit, Picks Up A Mic

NEW YORK (AP) - Lynda Carter peers at the ultrasleek stereo in her hotel room, trying to find the right button - any button, really - that will get it to accept her CD.

"Now, where would Play be?" she asks. "Is it Enter?" she wonders. "That's not it." "CD? Does that say CD?" Carter played Wonder Woman on television, someone who stopped bullets with her bracelets or hopped in an invisible plane. On this day, she's more human - more alter ego Diana Prince - stumped by an unfamiliar stereo. But not for long.

"OK!" she says with delight as the right button is pressed and the squeal of a saxophone signals the beginning of Sam Cooke's torch song "You Send Me." The voice that emerges, though, isn't Cooke's. It's Carter's. And, while walking over to a sofa, she can't help but sing along with herself, a grin plastered to her face. "I didn't realize how much I missed music until I came back," she says, her tall frame swaying. "It's just a blast. It's so much fun."

That's right: Long before she donned her famous star-spangled one-piece, Carter was a singer. She's getting back to it now with a new CD and a cabaret tour, proving that the 57-year-old is still something of a wonder woman. "She's really a very incredibly talented singer," says drummer Paul Leim, the leader of her band who has worked with Carter since her "Wonder Woman" days and also with the likes of Lionel Richie, Dolly Parton, Randy Travis,Reba McEntire,Kenny Rogers and Faith Hill. "Hopefully, everybody will get a chance to experience the real Lynda Carter instead of the actress from the cartoon," says Leim by phone from Nashville, Tenn.

The album contains covers of standards like "Cry Me a River," ''Blues in the Night" and "Summertime," as well as playful torch songs such as "Million Dollar Secret." Carter even covers the Etta James' classic "At Last," a song that also lends the CD its name. "It was 'At Last' for a long time before I knew it was the president's dancing song," she says, slightly chagrined.

Listeners might be startled at the strength of her voice and the soulful coloring of her songs, backed by top-notch studio musicians. "I don't think I work for surprise, but I think I'm surprising," she says.

Carter has lost little of her head-turning looks. On this day, she wears a short embroidered jacket, tight silk shirt and black leggings, a look few women decades her junior could pull off as well. Besides being a powerful charity fundraiser, she turns out to be a news junkie, able to talk about presidential line-item vetoes or Tom Daschle with ease. She also embraces her inner goofball.

"I'm really kind of a corny person," she says. "I think I am so funny. I do - I crack myself up. I consistently, at least according to my children, make a fool of myself. I am a completely flawed person. It is what it is. I'm happy with it." She'll be appearing this month on Hollywood's Sunset Boulevard and then at Lincoln Center in New York. In April, there's a fundraiser in Washington and a one-night stand in Modesto, Calif. And, in June, she'll be at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. "I like to make people laugh and feel comfortable with me," she says. "I work just as hard for 100 people as I do for 1,500 people. They deserve it."

Carter, who grew up in Phoenix, got her first professional singing job at 14. At 17, she was on the road, playing the Catskills, clubs in the Reno-Tahoe area, and made her debut at the Sahara Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas in a band called The Garfin Gathering. "I thought I was living the dream. Being paid to sing was unbelievable for me. When being paid to sing no longer felt right, that's when I quit," she says.

She won the Miss World-USA title in 1972 and four years later landed the iconic role of Wonder Woman, which she played until 1979. She says its success was due less to the skimpy outfit than her focus on making Diana Prince feel real. "People forget that I spent most of the time on television playing an alter ego," she says. "That's how I allowed people to really understand her."

Carter, who released her first album in 1978 and sang in several prime-time specials in the 1980s, has returned to performing of late, as her two children with her second husband, attorney Robert Altman, become young adults. She's appeared in "The Dukes of Hazzard,"Sky High" and the TV series "Smallville." She recently played a sociopath on "Law and Order" and loved it. "People like me don't get those opportunities very often," she says. "My daughter called it creepy. So I thought I'd hit a home run."

Carter returned to singing and performing in 2005 in a London performance of "Chicago," and a year later was part of the musical's 10th anniversary show on Broadway. She dipped her toe in cabaret in 2007, playing small venues in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Leim is working on a live CD of a show that she did in front of a nine-piece band at Harrah's Casino in Atlantic City, N.J.

Despite the new work, she knows that she'll never fully escape the legacy of Wonder Woman. Perhaps only when someone new steps into her old suit. "It needs to be done again," she says. "I think they should. I'm the first one to pass that baton and I hope it makes a bizzilion dollars."

By MARK KENNEDY Associated Press Writer

3.2.2009

Carter Approves Of Dushku As Wonder Woman
Lynda Carter has officially passed the Wonder Woman baton to actress Eliza Dushku, insisting she'd make a great comic book heroine. Carter, who played the iconic character on TV in the 1970s, insists the world needs a new Wonder Woman - and if reports suggesting director Joss Whedon is set to launch a new franchise with Dushku are correct, the original star would be thrilled.
She tells WENN, "I've always liked Joss, and Eliza would make a great Wonder Woman." Carter has even offered her services to help groom the next Wonder Woman. She adds, "People worry about, 'I really helped with this movie and I didn't get paid,' which I could care less about. People don't usually contact the original people to find things out because they're afraid of being sued claiming it was their idea. I hope if they make the movie it makes a bajillion (millions) dollars, which means they'll continue to make them." Credit: WENN

2.23.2009

Lynda Carter attends Defying Inequality: The Broadway Concert at the Gershwin Theatre on February 23, 2009 in New York City

Actresses Lynda Carter (L) and Sherri Saum (R) attend Defying Inequality: The Broadway Concert at the Gershwin Theatre on February 23, 2009 in New York City. (Photo by Amy Sussman/Getty Images).

Actress Lynda Carter attends Defying Inequality: The Broadway Concert at the Gershwin Theatre on February 23, 2009 in New York City.

Actress Lynda Carter attends Defying Inequality: The Broadway Concert at the Gershwin Theatre on February 23, 2009 in New York City.

02.20.2009
Who Wore It Best Who Wore It Best: Eva vs. Lynda by Miranda Noland | 3:15pm

Can a desperate housewife really beat Wonder Woman? When Eva Longoria Parker hosted the 2008 ALMA Awards in August, she wore Carolina Herrera's exquisite red one shouldered gown. At the Heart Truth Red Dress Collection Fall 2009 during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week this past week, Lynda Carter wore the same Carolina Herrera stunner with red peep toes. Does this red gown look better on petite Eva or statuesque Lynda?

2.20.2009:
In the meantime Lynda...

Lynda's red dress from N.Y. Fashion Week is up for auction

Lynda Carter's red Carolina Herrera gown that she wore to The Heart Truth's Red Dress Collection 2009 Fashion Show on February 13 is up for auction on Clothes Off Our Back. The auction has been extended to February 27.

Own the red dress modeled by Lynda Carter at New York Fashion Week. Lynda ("Wonder Woman") wore this Carolina Herrera gown on February 13, 2009, created especially for The Heart Truth’s Red Dress Collection 2009 Fashion Show to help raise awareness of women’s heart disease.

Designed to warn women of their #1 health threat, The Heart Truth created and introduced the Red Dress as the national symbol for women and heart disease awareness in 2002 to deliver an urgent wake-up call to American women. The Red Dress reminds women of the need to protect their heart health and inspires them to take action. The Heart Truth is sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Learn more at www.hearttruth.gov.

Auction proceeds benefit the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) and will be used to further efforts related to women’s heart health awareness and research.

Lynda Carter at the 2009 Heart Truth fashion show

2.18.2009
My interview with Lynda Carter...
By Greg Hernandez

It's no surprise to me that Lynda Carter is a mighty fine singer.

In the late 70s and early 80s, when she was at the height of her "Wonder Woman" fame, she released a few albums and headlined a handful of television specials highlighting her musical side.

I owned the 45 single of "Toto (Don't It Feel Like Paradise") which I bought at the J.C. Pennys in Huntington Beach for about 50 cents and played into oblivion.
Those were the days.

Carter, who had limited her television and film work for about a decade while raising her two children, is again focused on music and begins a three night stand at the Catalina Jazz Club in Hollywood on March 5.

"It was just the perfect timing to attempt to get back into something like this," she said during our chat a few days ago. "I'm raring to get out there. I like being able to just sing whatever I want to sing."

She's not sure if she'll be singing "Toto" but does plan to sing covers of "Up on the Roof," "You Send Me," and "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me," among others. She will also sing one of her own compositions called "Stay With Me" which she recorded three decades ago.

"I'm doing some familiar songs but they're done really just exactly the way I want to do them and not the way you've heard them before," Lynda said.

When a steer the conversation back to "Toto," Lynda said: "I have to say, I should do it. Because i've put in a whole bunch of new material, some stuff has gotta go. It's the strangest thing how people react to that song. Because of this particular interview and you, I will make sure it's rehearsed."

I'm sure I'm not the only gay in the audience who will want to hear the song.
In the past 15 years or so, Lynda has embraced being a gay icon but insisted to me that, amazingly, she initially didn't even know she was one.

"I was doing an interview with a lesbian publication and the writer said, 'You really don't know do you? You're a gay icon!' I said, 'No way!'"

She's enjoyed that status ever since.

"I think the people who have the most fun are my gay and lesbian fans and I appreciate them," she said. "They're not looking over their shoulders to see what's appropriate. It's just right there and we have a blast."

At the Catalina, audience members can expect plenty of between songs patter from Lynda who said the stage "sort of feels like my living room sometime."

"The thing I like best is to take people kind of on a journey and explain why I'm doing this or that song," she said. "That part of it really seems to be one of the things I do best," she said. "I really, really try to connect with people in my audience. It's important for me to make it okay for them to just rock out."

Carter relaunched her singing career after she did a stint as Mama Morton in a London production of "Chicago." She loved going out there and belting out her two songs, but in many ways her one-woman show is easier because you don't have to wait around backstage to go on.

"I thought it was a perfect way to see how the pipes worked - if they were still working," she said of the "Chicago" gig. "I felt that I was singing better than ever."

At 57, Carter certainly doesn't mind forever being associated with "Wonder Woman" which aired on ABC then CBS from 1975-79.

"I get the memory thing," she said. "With a lot of time and life under my belt, I'm certainly relaxed and irreverent about the whole thing and having a great time and poke a lot of fun at myself."

"Acting is what made me famous but singing is what I did every day of my life," she added. "I'm just grateful I'm doing it. It puts you way on the line because you don't have a bunch of lights and dancers. It's you and the music."

For more information about Lynda Carter's upcoming shows at The Catalina, go to the club's website: CatalinaJazzClub.com

2.14.2009

Lynda Carter at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Fall 2009 - Heart Truth's Red Dress Collection Fashion Show.
Submitted by Kiran Pahwa on Sat, 02/14/2009
Event:Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Fall 2009 - Heart Truth's Red Dress Collection Fashion Show - Runway Venue & Location:The Tent, Bryant Park / New York City, NY, USA
Event Date: 2/13/2009
Photographer:Donna Ward / PR Photos Lynda Carter at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Fall 2009 - Heart Truth's Red Dress Collection Fashion Show

2.14.2009

Beauty Backstage For The Red Dress Project @ NYC Fashion Week

2.13.2009

2.13.2009
Wearing a one shoulder, red taffeta dress by Carolina Herrera, Lynda Carter took part in the annual Heart Truth's Red Dress Collection show. The event has been staged since 2002 to help highlight awareness of heart disease, which has been acknowledged as the number one killer of women in America.
Some of America's leading designers contributed special gowns for the show, along with two British labels, Marchesa and Jenny Packham.
2.13.2009
- Lynda Carter - The Heart Truth
Lynda Carter at the 2009 The Heart Truth: Women with Heart Slip into Designer Red Dresses The Heart Truth's Red Dress Collection 2009 Fashion Show. Mercedes-Benz New York Fashion Week. The Tent at Bryant Park, New York City. - Johns PkI / Splash News

2.13.2009

Actress Lynda Carter attends The Heart Truth's Red Dress Collection at The Tent in Bryant Park in New York City. (Feb. 13, 2009)

2.13.2009

Red Dress Show: Wonder Woman Lynda Carter Kicks Off NY Fashion Week

By Marisa Wong
Lynda Carter showed New York fashion - followers Friday morning why she's still - and likely always will be - an inspiring Wonder Woman figure. To a chorus of hoots and hollers, the 57-year-old actress glided onto the runway wearing Carolina Herrera at the Heart Truth Red Dress Collection fashion show, sensually swerving her hips while mouthing the words to "When You're Good to Mama" from the musical "Chicago."
The playful performance was a daring and refreshing break from the measured walking you'll see on most fashion runways. Indeed, the entire show, which officially kicked off New York's fashion week, offered an uplifting beginning to eight days of runway events and fashion presentations in which designers' Fall 2009 collections will be unveiled. The event, which is staged each season to raise awareness for women's heart disease, this year featured dresses in all shades of red.

Lynda Carter poses backstage at the Heart Truth Red Dress Collection 2009 fashion show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at The Tent in Bryant Park on February 13, 2009 in New York City. (Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images for Swarovski).

2.13.2009

Heart Truth - Backstage - Fall 09 MBFW(Lynda Carter)

Lynda Carter poses backstage at the Heart Truth Red Dress Collection 2009 fashion show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at The Tent in Bryant Park on February 13, 2009 in New York City. (Photo by Kristian Dowling/Getty Images for IMG).

Celebrity Lynda Carter arrives in red for the Heart Truth's Red Dress show in New York City. (February 13, 2009 - Photo by Photo Agency)

2.13.2009

2.13.2009

Lynda's Interviews 2008

12.7.2008

Actress Lynda Carter arrives with husband Robert Altman at the Kennedy Center for the Kennedy Center Honors on December 7, 2008 in Washington, DC. In its 31st year, the Kennedy Center Honors recognizes honorees for their lifetime contributions to American culture through the performing arts.

12.1.2008

By Donna Shor

Lynda Carter in performance at the National Museum of Women in the Arts. Photo by Laurie Black

STILL WONDER-FULL
At the National Museum of Women in the Arts cabaret benefit, TV's former "Wonder Woman," Lynda Carter, swooped, boogied, and strutted - then slinked across the stage like a sleek panther. In a rich, chocolaty voice, she belted out rock'n'roll, Broadway show tunes, and classic ballads to win a standing ovation for her hour-long show.

NMWA founder Wilhelmina 'Billie' Holladay presented Carter with the museum's Lifetime Achievement in the Performing Arts Award for her singing career as well as her five television specials and the TV series.

Patti Sowalski won praise for chairing the event, which featured an excellent dinner and dramatic, flame-red centerpieces. Hard-working American Red Cross chairwoman Bonnie McElveen-Hunter knew how to have fun. She was dancing in place to Lynda's songs as she led tablemates, arms locked, swaying side to side, in rhythm. Others attending included: Mary Mochary and Phil Wine, Carol and Climis Lascaris, Ahmad and Judy Esfandiary, Irene Natividad and Andrea Cortese, Sunny Scully, Caroline Boutte, Marlene and Fred Malek, Lisa Pumphrey, and Dr. Milton Corn and Gilan Tocco Corn (who co-directs the museum's Shenson Chamber Music Concert Series which the evening helped benefit).

11.13.2008

Julie Chen - CBS News

11.7.2007

Lynda Carter and Robert Altman at the "Lions for Lambs" Premiere at The Uptown Theater on ... "Lions for Lambs" Washington, DC Premiere - Arrivals Washington

Wonderful Woman
11.7.2007

Wonderful Woman
The 56-year-old Irish/Mexican beauty turned up at a film premiere in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday -- looking super!

Lynda is a Hollywood superhero too -- having managed to stay married to the same man for 23 years. How'd she do that?!

10.23.2008

Wonder Woman on Politics
TV icon Lynda Carter shares her political point of view

10.22.2008

By: Ernio Hernandez

Lynda Carter is currently making her Feinstein's at the Regency debut in New York City.

PLAYBILL.COM

The actress, known for her TV work as "Wonder Woman," plays the venue through Oct. 25. Carter has also performed on the London stage as Matron "Mama" Morton in the musical Chicago.
For more on Feinstein's, visit www.feinsteinsattheregency.com.

10.21.2008

Lynda Carter

FEINSTEIN'S AT LOEWS REGENCY, the nightclub proclaimed "Best of New York" by New York Magazine and "an invaluable New York institution" by The New York Post, will continue their 10th Anniversary season with the return engagement of TV and stage star LYNDA CARTER. Her new show runs from October 21 - 25 at the Regency Hotel (540 Park Avenue at 61st Street). Immediately following her smash run in Atlantic City this month - which the New York Daily News called "total and triumphant" - Lynda's new show features hits by the Supremes ("Where Did Our Love Go?"), the Beatles ("In My Life") and Bonnie Raitt ("I Can't Make You Love Me"), in addition to standards like "Fever," "Deed I Do" and "Put the Blame On Mame."
Lynda is currently recording a new CD in Nashville for release later in the year. At Feinstein's, she will be joined by a five piece band led by Music Director Sam Kriger. LYNDA CARTER, after being crowned Miss World-USA in 1973, outdistanced hundreds of other actresses for the leading role in "Wonder Woman."
Carter went on to produce and host a series of five Emmy-winning television network variety specials featuring her singing and dancing, appearing with guest stars like Ray Charles, Kenny Rogers, George Benson, Merle Haggard and Tom Jones.
More recently, she has starred or guest starred in dozens of films and television series, including "Smallville" and the films Dukes of Hazzard and Sky High. Her recent stage credits include appearing as "Mama Morton" in the West End production of Chicago.
She also performed at Chicago's 10th Anniversary on Broadway celebration at the Ambassador Theatre in New York, alongside other stars Ann Reinking, Bebe Neuwirth, Joel Grey, Chita Rivera, Brooke Shields and Melanie Griffith. An accomplished singer, Carter showed a talent for music since her early childhood.
She co-wrote several songs on her upcoming album and made frequent appearances as a singer during her career, including performances at London's Palladium, the MGM Grand and Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, and highly-rated television shows, including "Lynda Carter's Variety Special" and "Lynda Carter: Encore."
Please call 212-339-4095 for reservations or further information.

10.21.2008

Carter 'Overshadowed' By Wonder Woman Success
WONDER WOMAN star LYNDA CARTER was desperate to return to the stage in her own forthcoming musical revue - because she has been plagued by the shadow of her infamous character on the classic show.
The American actress and singer first took her cabaret act across the U.S. last year (07) and is set to return to her musical roots with an onstage revival in New York on Tuesday (21Oct08).
And Carter is convinced her return is the only way she could part ways from her role in the iconic 1970s superheroine show - to prove she is a different person from her sexy small screen character. She tells the New York Post: "(It's) not to make more money, not to be more famous - it's for the pleasure of me.
Wonder Woman always overshadowed me. People ask about her all the time. I can either distance myself or embrace her. I have all the shows, all the costumes. I think she was fantastic. "But I never felt I, personally, was a sexy person. There's this 'ooohh and aaahh' for that character, but it's not really for you yourself. They call you sexy, but you don't feel like it."
10.20.2008
LYNDA CARTER ATTENDS GOLDEN HEART AWARDS

The IAC Building in New York
400 friends of God's Love We Deliver attended its Golden Heart Awards Celebration at the IAC Building in New York City.
The Golden Heart Award honors those members of the corporate and philanthropic communities who demonstrate extraordinary and exemplary philanthropy and ongoing civic responsibility.
This year the honorees were: Harry Slatkin, president, Home Design Limited Brands, and president of Slatkin & Co; 7th on Sale, the fashion industry's hallmark HIV/AIDS fundraising event; and Roz Gilbert, a dedicated God's Love volunteer since 1992.
Guests included: New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Harry Slatkin, Anna Wintour, Jonathan Adler, Robert Altman and Lynda Carter, Michael Bastian, Scott Bessent, Serena Boardman, Tory Burch, Les Moonves, CeCe Cord, Philippe Dauman and Debbie Dauman, John Demsey, Simon Doonan, Thom Filicia, Cornelia Guest, Tommy Hilfiger, Donna Karan, Calvin Klein, Dayana Mendoza (Miss Universe 2008), Deborah Norville, Chris Riley, Margaret Russell, Bee Shaffer, Crystle Stewart (Miss USA 2008), Martha Stewart, Blaine Trump, Vera Wang, and Vicente Wolf.
Since 1985, God's Love We Deliver has worked to improve the health and well being of men, women and children living with HIV/AIDS, cancer and other life altering illnesses by alleviating hunger and malnutrition.
What began with a few meals delivered to an individual suffering from the effects of HIV/AIDS has grown to include nutrition counseling and the delivery of over 3,200 meals each weekday--nearly 10 million since our founding. All services are provided free of charge and there has never been a waiting list.

lyndamikePingelinterview Lynda Carter

10.15.2008

WONDER WOMAN AND SOME WRITER TALK TO GB

Princess Diana, Wonder Woman, Lynda Carter, Gaydom's fave superheroine. For over three decades she's been the star of television, film, stage, and the recording studio.
In doing so, she has become a world class gay icon - and now she chats with Gossip Boy. Joining us is author/actor Mike Pingel, who has just written a pop culture book about Lynda called The Q Guide To Wonder Woman.

Gossip Boy: Princess. Uh may I call you Princess?

Lynda Carter: Oh of course. Please do.

GB: Super! Now Princess I want to thank you for taking time out from fighting evil doers and joining us for this chit chat. I've been a huge fan of yours since I was a young boy. And Mike I greatly appreciate you arranging this for us.

LC: Well Mike said you'd make this fun. I am very happy to meet you.

Mike Pingel: Happy to accommodate.

GB: First thing I need to know is where Paradise Island is. I may need to hide out for awhile.

LC: Well Paradise Island is hidden in the Bermuda Triangle and, sorry, but men aren't allowed.

GB: Even flamboyant men? Damn fembots! Probably just a bunch of junk U-Hauls washed up on shore anyway.

LC: No, no, no. It's beautiful. Keyword: Paradise. Perhaps I can get you a visa James.

GB: Well we have a Paradise Island in Oklahoma too. It's called Tramps and it's a bar. Half-naked and ambrosia'ed girls running around knocking men over. You'd fit right in. Busy this weekend?

LC: Is ambrosia'ed a word?

GB: Come to Tramps and find out. You Amazons love to brawl don't you?

LC: Well with the cost of fuel I don't get to take the Invisible Plane out very much these days.

Mike Pingel: Cut down on the peanuts too?

LC: Yes I did. No peanuts in-flight. But tell me more about Tramps James. Why is it called Tramps?

GB: Well do you remember in Season One of Wonder Woman where the Nazis had you in that dank, dark dungeon?

LC: Yesssssss.

GB: There ya go.

LC: Oh my. Well I have to avoid clubs now unless I am performing, so what else does Oklahoma City have to offer a girl?

GB: Oh the rehab thing, huh? I'm holding out for the Cindy McCain Treatment Center myself.

LC: You're evil! Don't make me get my lasso.

GB: Oh the lasso! Make me submit Wonder Woman. Make me submit.

LC: Laughs

GB: Now the man who created Wonder Woman in the 30's, the psychologist what's his name, was heavy into bondage and discipline.

LC: Laughs. Yes, that's why Wonder Woman has that lasso that makes men submit. Then there's the bracelets she wears, if they come off she becomes submissive to men.

GB: So who's been the evilest villain you've fought so far: Cheetah or Moosezilla?

LC: Moosezilla?

GB: Sarah Palin.

LC: Laughs...for quite awhile

GB: Oh wait now Lynda you've played a governor too haven't you.

LC: Just a cameo on Super Troopers.

GB: Right. Well, I consider Palin one of Wonder Woman's foes. Last month you caused a bit of a stir with your comments about Sarah Palin after it was brought to your attention she was being called Wonder Woman, specifically you said, " She's the anti-Wonder Woman. She's judgmental and dictatorial, telling people how they've got to live their lives. And a superior religious self-righteousness... that's just not what Wonder Woman is about. Hillary Clinton is a lot more like Wonder Woman than Mrs. Palin". Anything you want to add?

LC: My biggest issue with her is that she has the audacity to believe she knows the mind of God. Who does she think she is? America should be afraid of her. She wants to force her religious views on everyone and that isn't right. It is un-American and completely against what this country stands for. People like her keep shouting that you're un-American if you don't believe in the war or if you're not this or that or believe this or that way. Running for office does not give her the right to tell other people how to live their lives. It is total bullshit! She pisses me off!

GB: You got spunk! I love it.

LC: Thank you.

GB: Gossip Boy has been doing lots of reports about people wanting to void the separation of church and state in the Constitution. These people are dangerous.

LC: Yes they are and people need to speak up and stop this bullshit from going further.

GB: I agree. What role would Wonder Woman play in 2008? Princess, tell me about Wonder Woman.

LC: Say please.

GB: Please. So besides teaching manners, what would Wonder Woman be doing? Please.

LC: Well Wonder Woman is a symbol about what the country should be. She's about freedom, choice, democracy, and meeting any obstacle with great strength, but even greater compassion. I think she'd be trying to unite people right now. She'd be making sure that democracy was protected. Princess Diana is based on Greek mythology. She's an addition to the legends of the Amazons. The Greeks gave us democracy. The wisdom of their scholars is what America is based on. Wonder Woman is symbolic of all the best things America should be.

GB: Does it bother you to be still thought of mostly as Wonder Woman?

LC: Not in the least. The role was larger than life and I am proud that I am attached to something that came to be such a role model and symbol of empowerment especially for young girls.

GB: There's been talk of a new live action Wonder Woman movie. Are you going to appear?

LC: No one has approached me yet, but I'd love to do a walk on if it happens. Joss Whedon is no longer with the project, but a few scripts are working their way around Hollywood, so we'll need to see if it even happens. There is going to be an animated Wonder Woman movie on DVD coming out in February. Keri Russell is doing Diana and Rosario Dawson is voicing Artemis.

GB: Lynda I remember you used to sing quite a bit. In fact I think I had an 8-track of yours back in high school. Last month you were in Atlantic City with your cabaret show An Intimate Evening With Lynda Carter. You're doing much more musical performance than acting these days, so could you talk about that?

LC: 8-tracks? Oh God how you are dating us. Laughs. Music has always been a part of my life. An Intimate Evening With Lynda Carter will be in New York City next week. I will be at Feinstein's for seven shows.

GB: The New York Daily News just called your show "triumphant" so I'd like to hear about it.

MP: Oh it's fabulous. I saw her show in San Francisco.

LC: We had such fun Mike! I've just had a wonderful time with the show. It's a simple act, no flash or trash, no backup dancers. I did Chicago a few years back in London playing Mama Morton and wanted to gear down to something simpler and closer to the audience. Less bells and whistles. Scott Stander [the producer] and I were able to put on a show that pleased the critics and one that the audience just swooned for. Scott puts my ass on the line and I have to get down and sing it off, but it is very much worth it.

GB: What are you performing?

LC: Doing some covers of the Supremes, Bonnie Raitt, the Beatles, and some of my own pieces from the last thirty years. I am releasing a new CD next year so you can hear some of those songs now.

GB: Now you have a big LGBT fan base. How do feel about that?

LC: I absolutely love it. My entire life I've adored Bette Midler and wanted to model myself after her. I knew if I ever got the gay and lesbian audience like she did, then I'd had made it. I've so many close gay and lesbian friends in the entertainment business. Mike has become one of them, haven't you? I am for full rights for them. There's no reason they shouldn't be able to enjoy every freedom and liberty given to others.

GB: Well, Princess, you've made it.

LC: Thank you my love!

GB: My love? Blushes. Had I only been able to hear you say that in 1977, when I kind of liked girls.

LC: Ohhhhh.

GB: Now Mike. You and I've been friends for years yet this is the first time I've gotten to interview you about one of your books. You've done these extraordinary histories about pop culture television and I am glad you see you worked your way around to Wonder Woman. Tell us about the book The Q Guide To Wonder Woman.

LC: Make him say "please" Mike.

GB: PLEASE.

LC: Laughs. Better my love.

MP: Laughs. Oh that's one Amazon who will train you well my friend. The Q Guide To Wonder Woman will be coming out widely on November 1^st and I hope your readers run out and buy it. You can get it on Amazon now. I write all my guides from the gay perspective - thus the Q - so your people can relate obviously. It is packed full of trivia and tidbits on Lynda and Wonder Woman. Lynda gave me lots to work with. I won't reveal too much as you really need to read the book.

GB: Now Mike you've done some film and stage work, some television - that walk on role on America's Most Wanted should've gotten you an Emmy...

MP: Yes, Carlo/Son #1, on AMW was some of my best work.

GB: Right. Very moving. Anyway, besides the Q books you've been writing, you'd been working up until recently as the personal assistant for a very famous actress.

MP: Yes, three years for Farrah Fawcett. That's how you and I meant. What back in '05?

GB: Yes, when I was hanging out with David [Ogden Stiers] at the M*A*S*H tribute. She's a doll and another 70's icon like the very beautiful and talented Lynda Carter. How was she as an employer?

LC: Awww.

MP: Well, she is the one that really motivated me to do the Q Series, especially The Q Guide To Charlie's Angels. That developed into the decision that I'd concentrate on doing TV heroines of the 70's, The Q Guide To the Brady Bunch aside. She helped me build my Charlie's Angels collection even bigger, which I love her for. It's now surpassed my Star Wars stuff. You already know I am a mega geek, when it comes to these things. Now I get to make a career out of it and meet all my idols. Farrah is as sweet as they come. We are like girlfriends and still hang.

GB: You've been like the world's authority on Charlie's Angels haven't you?

LC: Oh yeah. In 1995 I took a fascination and turned it into me being an authority. It's how I meant Farrah and all the angels. Which worked out great as when I needed a job, whoa there was Farrah needing an assistant. I was a natural.

GB: Mike you are now eating something. What is it?

LC: Carrots. He only eats carrots and I can hear the crunching!

MP: I am the world's fattest vegetarian.

GB: Well, I know you need to go Lynda, so let me say this has just been a very enjoyable talk with you. A dream come true.

LC: James I loved this. It was refreshing. We need to do it again and if you're ever around let's do dinner.

GB: That's a deal Princess! And thank you Mike. I wish your new book well.

10.11.2008

Tony Plakas

Last month, Lynda Carter told Philadelphia Magazine comparisons between Gov. Sarah Palin and Wonder Woman are misplaced. She claimed Gov. Palin is "judgmental and dictatorial" and harbors a "superior religious self-righteousness." By her principles, "that's just not what Wonder Woman is about."

During Palin's recent visit to Palm Beach County, it was difficult to ignore her resemblance to Diana Prince, Wonder Woman's alter ego. As former beauty queens, one could imagine either "in satin tights, fighting for our rights and the old red, white, and blue."

But comparisons extend beyond the physical. Wonder Woman entered "man's world" from a faraway paradise rich with resources the United States wanted to exploit during wartime to achieve victory and independence. In a twist on a damsel in distress story, she left her island to aid a decorated war hero.

Her primary weapon was a bulletproof alloy called feminum that was crafted into bracelets and a tiara. It protected her and her maverick serviceman. If an enemy took aim, she struck poses and her accessories deflected bullets. Her moves were as disarming as Palin's wink. You betcha!

Unlike the innocent glamazon Carter portrayed, the original comic book heroine was an Amazon. A direct descendant of the gods, she invoked their names unapologetically during battle. "Beautiful as Aphrodite, wise as Athena, swifter than Hermes and stronger than Hercules," she righteously imposed her beliefs on others.
Her golden lasso forced people to tell the truth and obey her. Wonder Woman would be a conservative's conservative. Nurtured in the homogeneity of her own kind and naive to the ways of the world, she rarely doubted her right to act as judge and jury. She's the type to force marriage, choose life or order the destruction of anything contradicting her idea of creation.

Most would think a leap from comics to DC politics would be a bridge to nowhere, but associating Palin with Wonder Woman indicates she is not just any woman. She is a specific kind of woman needed to protect a war hero, whose record on conservative issues has not been all that divine, from a political base taking aim. She may not fit Carter's version of a hero, but she certainly protects one, very specific, American dream.

10.10.2008

Lynda Carter on Today

9.26.2008
Feinstein's to Present Lynda Carter

Broadway World
FEINSTEIN'S AT LOEWS REGENCY, the nightclub proclaimed "Best of New York" by New York Magazine and "an invaluable New York institution" by The New York Post, will continue their 10th Anniversary season with the return engagement of TV and stage star Lynda Carter.
Her new show runs from October 21 - 25 at the Regency Hotel (540 Park Avenue at 61st Street). Immediately following her smash run in Atlantic City this month - which the New York Daily News called "total and triumphant" - Lynda's new show features hits by the Supremes ("Where Did Our Love Go?"), the Beatles ("In My Life") and Bonnie Raitt ("I Can't Make You Love Me"), in addition to standards like "Fever," "Deed I Do" and "Put the Blame On Mame."
Lynda is currently recording a new CD in Nashville for release later in the year. At Feinstein's, she will be joined by a five piece band led by Music Director Sam Kriger.' Lynda Carter, after being crowned Miss World-USA in 1973, outdistanced hundreds of other actresses for the leading role in "Wonder Woman."
Carter went on to produce and host a series of five Emmy-winning television network variety specials featuring her singing and dancing, appearing with guest stars like Ray Charles, Kenny Rogers, George Benson, Merle Haggard and Tom Jones. More recently, she has starred or guest starred in dozens of films and television series, including "Smallville" and the films Dukes of Hazzard and Sky High. Her recent stage credits include appearing as "Mama Morton" in the West End production of Chicago.
She also performed at Chicago's 10th Anniversary on Broadway celebration at the Ambassador Theatre in New York, alongside other stars Ann Reinking, Bebe Neuwirth, Joel Grey, Chita Rivera, Brooke Shields and Melanie Griffith. An accomplished singer, Carter showed a talent for music since her early childhood.
She co-wrote several songs on her upcoming album and made frequent appearances as a singer during her career, including performances at London's Palladium, the MGM Grand and Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, and highly-rated television shows, including "Lynda Carter's Variety Special" and "Lynda Carter: Encore."
FEINSTEIN'S AT LOEWS REGENCY will play the following schedule:
Tuesday through Thursday at 8:30 PM.
The new weekend schedule will present shows on Friday and Saturday evenings at 8:00 PM and 10:00 PM.
Shows have a $60.00 cover with $75.00 premium seats, except for the 10:00 PM shows, which have a $40.00 cover with $60.00 premium seats.
All shows have a $40.00 food and beverage minimum. Jackets are suggested but not required.
FEINSTEIN'S AT LOEWS REGENCY is located at 540 Park Avenue at 61st Street in New York City.
For ticket reservations and club information, please call (212) 339-4095 or visit us online at feinsteinsatloewsregency.com and TicketWeb.com.

9.12.2008
Lynda Carter's still a wonder in Atlantic City

By Phil Roura

Daily News Music

Wham! Bam! Ker-pow!
Lynda Carter, who muscled her way to the top of the TV ratings in a strapless gold top in the 1970s, is a knockout as the star of "An Intimate Evening of Music," which opened the fall season at Harrah's on Wednesday.
Carter started her career as a singer before being forever branded as Wonder Woman.
After marrying powerful Washington attorney Robert Altman in 1984, she left show business to raise the couple's two children, returning to the stage about a year ago. She has never been better. At 57, she looks fantastic, vamping in a gorgeous, form-fitting navy blue gown, gold shrug and 6-inch heels across the Concert Venue stage, where she will be through Sept. 27.
Her deep, bluesy voice is vibrant and delicious, although it seemed to tire ever so slightly before reviving at the end. Perhaps she would be wise to remove an insanely difficult patter number that would tax the most seasoned Gilbert & Sullivan veteran. But that is nitpicking. Carter sashays onto the stage in front of a five-piece combo with the brashness of a superheroine.
She looks you in the eye, grabs your attention and never lets go. Listen to her belt out "Stay With Me Tonight" and, unless you're made of solid lead, you're a goner.
Hear her finger-snap through "Indeed I Do" and you can't help but join in. And those are just the appetizers. The main course is the collection of blues numbers she assays with the ease of the women who created them. When she sings Helen Humes' "Million Dollar Secret," Carter does so in the style of those great jazz ladies who could get down 'n' dirty with the best of them.
When she sits on a tall stool and slinks her way through Peggy Lee's "Fever," it is with affection and an understanding of what makes jazz the unique American idiom.
In fact, Carter's playlist is a songbook of American standards. She breathes new life into them, as she does with the Supremes' "Where Did Our Love Go?" and Willie Nelson's "Crazy."
She isn't above poking fun at her act when she compares herself to Rita Hayworth, who was forever saddled as the ultimate femme fatale after the 1946 film noir, "Gilda." "Can you imagine anybody ever being associated with just one role?" she asks the audience coyly - then torches the stage with a sizzling interpretation of Hayworth's "Put the Blame on Mame." Maybe "I Can't Make You Love Me" isn't as stirring as when Bonnie Raitt sings it, but Carter does justice to the weepy ballad.
And when she punctuates the evening with John Lennon's "In My Life," you know you've seen the rebirth of a star.
Comedian Brad Zimmerman (you may remember him as Johnny Sack's mouthpiece on "The Sopranos") opens the show with a very funny routine about his life as a waiter and some observations about old folks. Like the old lady in Florida who comes up to three male seniors sitting on a park bench and asks: "The first one who guesses what I have in my hand can have sex with me." One of the men answers: "An elephant." She quickly replies: "Close enough!"
But this is Lynda Carter's night, total and triumphant. The woman is truly a wonder.

9.7.2008

AtlanticCityWeekly

7.7.2008

An Intimate Evening With Lynda Carter

Lynda Carter's Secret Identity: an incredible singer

September 7-27, 2008

Sunday, Tuesday-Thursday at 8 p.m.

Friday and Saturday at 9 p.m.

Wonder Woman has arrived in Atlantic City, but instead of fighting crime with her bullet deflecting bracelets and golden lasso, she reveals her passion and talent for singing.

For the last year she has returned to the live stage by headlining a cabaret show that will leave you astonished. Many may not know, but before slipping into hot pants and boots to become Wonder Woman, Lynda Carter was a singer.

She began her singing career at 14 as lead singer for "Just Us". She continued singing and touring with a band called "The Relatives" at age 17. After her well-known role as Wonder Woman, she produced and hosted five Emmy award-winning CBS television specials, featuring her singing and dancing with renowned stars such as: Ray Charles, Kenny Rogers, George Benson, Tom Jones, and Merle Haggard.

Ms. Carter's velvety voice will transform you, as she takes you on a journey to her heart, with jazz, blues and country classics. She is accompanied by her all-star band, direct from Nashville.

Look for her new CD release this fall, under the production of Johnny Carter Cash - son of the legendary Johnny Cash.
Lynda Carter Wonder Woman at Harrah's, Atlantic City - Videography by Lew Steiner

7.7.2008

The Insider

"Wonder Woman" Lynda Carter is opening up about battling her demons and winning it. She reveals her alcoholic past and how she became sober in a new interview.

The 56-year-old actress told The Insider, "I needed help. I begged God in heaven to help me figure this out."

She said that although she was "brilliant" in hiding her problem, her attorney husband Robert Altman and their two children knew of her situation.

She continues, "My husband asked me... 'Can't you just stop this for the children and for me?'"

The actress finally entered rehab in Washington, D.C. after her husband's plea. She is sober for 10 years now.

Carter married Altman in 1984. They have two children together, 20-year-old James and 17-year-old Jessica.

theinsidervideotest Lynda Carter's Battle with the Bottle! at The Insider
7.4.2008

Lynda Carter's Battle with the Bottle!

The TV icon opens up!
To children in the 1970s, she was the star of primetime TV's super series, "Wonder Woman," armed with bullet-repelling bracelets and a lasso of truth. Now, Lynda Carter is sitting down with "The Insider" 30 years later to reminisce about her landmark role, and reveal dark secrets about her past.

"The character of Wonder Woman is so friggin' cool," the blue-eyed covergirl says. "I'm going to be 120 and they'll say, 'There's the girl that used to be Wonder Woman.'"

With a Miss USA World pageant title under her belt, she seemed to have it all, but Lynda tells us that she hid a surprising secret: She was an alcoholic.

"I was so good at hiding it too," she says. "I begged God in heaven to help me figure this out."

She sought help at a treatment center near her home in Washington, D.C., and now, the mother of two is almost 10 years sober. Today, Lynda enjoys the sport of rowing and also sings in small clubs. She recently launched a traveling, one-woman cabaret show called "An Intimate Evening with Lynda Carter" in which she can be seen performing around the country.

But you can still see her in her original red, white and blue corset on the DVD collection of the original "Wonder Woman" TV series, released by Warner Bros. Home Video. Watch tonight's "Insider" and visit Wonderland-site.com for the latest on Lynda!

7.2.2008

Paris Fashion Week - Christian Lacroix

Lynda Carter and Blaine Trump(Jessica in the background)
Julien Hekimian/WireImage

Paris Fashion Week - Christian Lacroix

7.1.2008

Lynda Carter leaves the Christian Lacroix '09 Spring Summer Haute Couture fashion show in Paris, France.

7.1.2008

Linda Carter was also at the Armani show, looking stunning. At 56 years old her skin is still flawless, her clothes are still bold AND she remembers pick one thing to star in your own personal fashion show and leave the rest to support it. Those beaded wedge sandals are the perfect blend of fashion, class and the understanding of both.

Paris Fashion Week - Christian Lacroix

6.6.2008

Lynda's Interview

5.20.2008

68th Annual American Ballet Theatre Spring Gala

5.12.2008

Superhero Costumes in Fashion at the Met - Lynda Carter

John Scott Lewinski

Giorgio Armani is sponsoring an examination of superhero fashion, including Lynda Carter’s Wonder Woman outfit, Robert Downey, Jr.’s Iron Man armor, George Reeve’s Superman suit and Michelle Pfeifer’s Catwoman leather. (Any reader who wishes to point out that Catwoman is technically not a superhero or heroine should probably not attend the exhibition.)

Featuring different categories of costumes such as The Graphic Body, the Mutant Body and the Armored Body, the exhibit seeks to examine “the symbolic and metaphorical associations between fashion and the superhero.” Or, it could just be an easy opportunity to see some cool TV and movie hero gear.

Artwork courtesy The New York Metropolitan Museum of Art
5.9.2008

BENEFIT FOR FATHER MARTIN ASHLEY (WITH LYNDA CARTER)
25th Anniversary of Father Ashley Martin Treatment Center - black-tie gala

The Metropolitan Museum Of Art Costume Institute Annual Gala - Arrivals

Actress Lynda Carter (R) arrives at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Gala, Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy, held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 5, 2008 in New York City.

5.1.2008

Lynda Carter, better known to most of us as "Wonder Woman," was one of the very first strong female role models on television. Now she's returning to ther first love, music, and working her magic on stage here in the Bay Area.

An Intimate Evening With Lynda Carter
(April 29 - May 4)
Legendary actress Lynda Carter returns for her second engagement with Rrazz Entertainent, following her highly successful debut in 2007. Carter began her career as a singer and toured extensively with various rock bands.
After winning the Miss World USA crown in the 1970's, Carter embarked on her career as an actress, and soon found success as the star of the hugely popular television series Wonder Woman.
Starring roles in television series followed, including Partners in Crime with Loni Anderson, and the frontier drama, Hawkeye.

Carter produced and hosted a series of five Emmy-winning television specials featuring her singing and dancing, appearing with such guest stars as Ray Charles, Kenny Rogers, and Tom Jones.
She continues to perform on stage around the world, including headline performances in Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe, Reno, Atlantic City, Monte Carlo and the London Palladium.

She starred in the West End production of Chicago, and performed at the Chicago's 10th Anniversary on Broadway celebration at the Ambassador Theatre in NY, with other original revival stars Ann Reinking, Bebe Neuwirth, Joel Grey, Chita Rivera, and others. Her numerous film credits include the title role in Rita Hayworth: The Love Goddess and more recently, two major studio features: Dukes of Hazzard and Sky High.
Carter has been featured in a number of national advertising campaigns, serving as Beauty and Fashion Director for Maybelline Cosmetics, and for thirteen years appearing as Maybelline's "face" to the public in print and broadcast campaigns.

The Rrazz Room is located on the main floor of Hotel Nikko San Francisco, 222 Mason Street in San Francisco.
Tickets to all performances may be purchased through the Box Office at 866/468-3399, or through the website: www.TheRrazzRoom.com.

About Lynda Carter

Carter was born Linda Jean Cordova Carter in Phoenix, Arizona. Her father, Colby Carter is an Irish American, and her mother, Juana Cordova, is of Mexican ancestry Carter grew up an avid reader of the Wonder Woman comic books.
She went to Globe High School in Globe, Arizona and Arcadia High School in Phoenix.
She attended Arizona State University, but after being voted the "most talented" student, she dropped out in order to pursue a career in music.
She toured as a singer with several rock groups before returning to Arizona in 1972.

Carter entered a local beauty contest and achieved her first national fame by winning Miss World USA in 1972 representing Arizona.
As the United States entrant in the Miss World pageant she reached the semi-finals.
After taking acting classes at several New York acting schools, she began making appearances on TV shows such as Starsky and Hutch, Cos and Nakia.

Her acting career did not take off until she landed her starring role in the Wonder Woman television series.
Her earnest performance endeared her to fans and critics and the series lasted for three seasons.
Thirty years after first taking on the role, Carter continues to be closely identified with Wonder Woman, so much so that it has proved difficult for producers to find a suitable candidate to play the character in subsequent aborted productions (work on the most recent attempt was announced in 2005).

Carter's other credits include the title role in a 1983 biopic of Rita Hayworth and a variety of her own television specials ; Lynda Carter's Special (1980), Encore! (1980), Celebration (1981), Street Life (1982), and Body And Soul (1984).
She also starred in a few short-lived TV series, including Partners in Crime with Loni Anderson in 1984, and Hawkeye with Lee Horsley.
During the late 1970s, she recorded the album Portrait and made numerous guest appearances on variety television programs in a musical capacity.
She also sang two of her songs in the Wonder Woman episode "Amazon Hot Wax."

In 2001, Carter was cast in the independent comedy feature Super Troopers as Vermont Governor Jessman.
The writer-stars of the film, the comedy troupe Broken Lizard with member Jay Chandrasekhar directing, had specifically sought Carter for the role, with plans to approach other television actresses of the 1970s had Carter declined.
Carter had her first appearance in a major feature film in a number of years in the 2005 big-screen remake of The Dukes of Hazzard, also directed by Chandrasekhar.
She also played in the 2005 movie Sky High as Principal Powers, the head of a school for superheroes.
The script allowed for Carter to poke fun at her most famous character when she states: "What a waste.
I can't do anything more to help you. I'm not Wonder Woman, y'know."
Lynda returned to the DC Comics' television world on the 2007 episode of Smallville titled "Progeny" playing Chloe Sullivan's Kryptonite-empowered mother.
Carter has also done voiceover work for video games, performing voices for the Nord and Orsimer (Orc) females in two computer games from The Elder Scrolls series.
These are The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

From September 26, 2005 until November of that year, Carter played the role of Mama Morton in the West End London production of Chicago.
Her rendition of "When You're Good to Mama" was officially released on the Chicago: 10th Anniversary Edition cd box set in October of 2006.
Receiving positive response to the song's release, Lynda booked her own cabaret tour act.
It was first scheduled in San Francisco at the York Hotel's Empire Plush Room from May 1 - 6, 2007 and proceeded to tour around the U.S.
Lynda also marked July 17, 2007 as the date to record her second solo musical release.

Lynda Carter - Part 2

4.28.2008

Lynda Carter: more than a 'woman'
by Tim Parks
For someone cemented in pop-culture history as the high-flying, iconic television character "Wonder Woman," actress Lynda Carter is rather grounded about the character's lasting appeal. "You can never live up to it," Carter said, in an interview last week with the Gay & Lesbian Times. "But, I haven't let it stop me.
I understand it, I get it and I think that I've reaped the benefits of having people identify Lynda Carter with the persona of Wonder Woman. I mean that is not a bad thing, because she's wonderful. I can't change that, might as well embrace it. I think that the thing you fight the most, it just persists, and it takes way too much negative energy to [fight] that... "People that know me really well forget about that, they just forget about it.
And, I'm certainly not aware of it, except in a public setting. I think that is the case with every actor that has ever played an iconic role - Charlton Heston in Ben-Hur, it goes all the way down. It's hard for me to separate, not knowing an actor of some kind, and they can be entirely different from the characters they play. It just means they're good actors, and I think the real person is somewhat disappointing."
Carter was everything but disappointing when she chatted with us about her television background, her foray into theater, her music and her legions of gay fans - of which she wasn't aware until more than a decade ago. "I finally sort of figured it out, it was only maybe 15 years ago," she said. "I had a woman come in from a lesbian magazine and she said, 'You don't know, do you?' And I said, 'I don't get it, no, what?'
I lived in a little bubble, I guess. And she said, "You're so big in the gay and lesbian community!' And I said, 'Really?'" Those fans have followed Carter's career from screen to stage. She will perform her music at the Thousand Oaks Performing Arts Center on April 25, The Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts on April 27, The Hotel Nikko in San Francisco April 2 through May 4 and The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. on May 10.
When Carter was a child she entered talent shows and, as a teen, joined her first band, The Relatives, which included fellow '70s TV alum Gary Burghoff, who later starred in "M*A*S*H" as "Radar."
In 1970, Carter sang lead vocals for The Garfin Gathering and was crowned Miss World USA in 1973, which led to her worldwide performances with Bob Hope. During her tenure as Wonder Woman, she recorded an album, headlined Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas and did five Emmy-award winning television variety specials.
"I had it in my blood," Carter said about what initially drew her to music. "It was always there; I can't remember a time when I didn't sing." More recently, she won raves for her portrayal of "Mama Morton" in the London West End production of Chicago in 2006.
Last year she returned to the stage as herself, belting out standards like, Peggy Lee's "Fever," and Billie Holiday's "God Bless the Child." Carter is excited to be back performing live in front of an audience, and be "on the road again." "It's about the music, and the connection to people," she said. "And whether I'm in a big theater or I'm in a small setting, to me I have a desire to relate to audiences through music and through whatever parts of me I can give on the stage. ... photo "It's never been any different in acting work.
It's finding the truth of things, and when you're coming from an honest place, I think it connects. I have a lot more control on what goes on in my stage performance - there's a lot more pieces to the puzzle. It's not costume changes or big lighting tricks or a giant orchestra - it is really putting yourself on the line.
I'm comfortable with it, I like it, and I knew I was going to be an actress and a singer, and that's it." That's not it, though - in addition to her roles as television icon and stage performer, 57-year-old Carter is also a wife to D.C.-lawyer, Robert Altman, and a mother to son Jamie and daughter Jessica.
Being a celebrity mom was more of a challenge when her children were younger, Carter said. "They had to grow up learning that there was something different about me," she said.
In one case, five-year-old Jamie carted mom and the Wonder Woman costume to show-and-tell. When Carter asked her son to join her at the front of the class and opened the floor for questions, one classmate asked the boy, "What's it like to have a mom that's famous and played Wonder Woman?" "And, Jamie kind of looked up at me and said, 'Well, it's not all it's cracked up to be,'" Carter recalled, laughing.
Now that Carter's kids are nearly adults, she's had more time to devote to her career. "My kids ... I'm not saying they don't need me, but in many ways it is easier for them for me to be busy," she said. "I'll drop anything for my kids - if I can do it physically, I will. I would not schedule something in the middle of my time with them - a singing thing that interferes with what I am doing with them.
I don't want to miss anything and without a rich, personal life, all of the success in the world does not mean very much." Despite being Wonder Woman and super mom, Carter has some of the same concerns as everyday people - one in particular that surprised us. "I'm always fighting my self image of 'I'm too fat, I hate this about my thighs,'" she said. "I've never quite mastered the whole, 'Don't hate me because I'm thin' thing. I'm fine now, and I'll never be 20 again and I'm OK with myself these days. But I'm no different from anybody else.
Things start shifting and moving around. And it's like, 'Oh my god! When did that happen?'" While Carter embraces her role as Wonder Woman, her past and its impact on the pantheon of pop culture, she is not defined by it. "I'm doing what I'm doing now, I'm not thinking about my past accomplishments.
I'm always interested in where my life is now, because that's how we remain full," she said. She related a story of roses she had planted that became overshadowed by trees, and had to be moved in order to flourish - a fitting analogy, she said, of her own life. "I had to move them into a sunny place ...well that's kinda my life story."
For Thousand Oaks tickets, log on to www.civicartsplaza.com. Tickets can also be purchased at Ticketmaster by calling 805-583-8700 or visiting www.ticketmaster.com For Cerritos tickets, visit www.cerritoscenter.com or call the box office at 800-300-4345.
4.27.2008

John Byner Opening for Lynda Carter

Lori Yonan, (562) 916-8525, lori_yonan@ci.cerritos.ca.us

COMEDIAN JOHN BYNER OPENS FOR LYNDA CARTER IN AN AFTERNOON OF COMEDY AND MUSIC AT THE CERRITOS CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS ON SUN., APRIL 27, 3:00 PM

CERRITOS, CA - Before she was Wonder Woman and before she was crowned Miss World USA, Lynda Carter was known as a leading lady of song, performing in venues from Las Vegas to the Catskills.

Throughout her television and film career, she never gave up the stage, starring in the West End production of Chicago and appearing in concerts from coast to coast. Comedian John Byner has made millions laugh since 1964, when he first appeared on Merv Griffin's Talent Scouts. Since then, he's done it all - from stage to screen and television. Byner opens for Carter in a performance filled with comedy and music at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts (CCPA) on Sunday, April 27, 3:00 PM. Tickets are now on sale at the CCPA Ticket Office, by calling (562) 467-8818, or at www.cerritoscenter.com . Ticket prices range from $60-$27.50. The $60 tickets are sold out.

JOHN BYNER is a very funny man. Griffin thought so when he first hired the young comedian to appear on his Talent Scouts television program. So did Ed Sullivan, who asked Byner to appear on his Toast of the Town show more than two dozen times in a decade. Byner starred with musician Al Hirt in eight CBS television specials and with Eddy Arnold on The Kraft Music Hall show. In 1967, Byner joined Liza Minnelli for The Kraft Music Hall special Woody Allen Looks at 1967.

Throughout his career, Byner has made more than 30 appearances on The Tonight Show and numerous stints on the popular Carol Burnett Show. He guest-starred on series such as Get Smart, Maude, The Odd Couple, Soap, Silk Stalkings, and Dharma & Greg, and starred in the Bizarre series for six seasons, Comedy on the Road for four seasons, Relatively Speaking for 90 episodes, and CBS's The John Byner Comedy Hour.

His film credits include What's Up, Doc?; The Last of the Cowboys; The Man in the Santa Claus Suit; Three on a Date; and The Big Time. Byner's screen credits are not always seen, but many times just heard. He was the voice of Gurgi and Doli in the Disney film The Black Cauldron, and voiced many characters in the popular cartoon series The Ant and the Ardvark. His other animated credits include The Pink Panther, Rug Rats, and Duckman. As a standup comedian, Byner has performed in the showrooms of Las Vegas, the Latin Quarter, and the Copacabana.

As a singer and an actress LYNDA CARTER is recognized as a "wonder woman." In a recent review of her cabaret show, ABC San Francisco hailed, "(She has) one of the most beautiful voices now performing in cabaret....(The show) is magnificent and what cabaret is all about." She has performed in a London production of Chicago as well as in Chicago's 10th Anniversary on Broadway, alongside Ann Reinking, Bebe Neuwirth, Joel Grey, and Chita Rivera. Carter also produced and hosted a series of five Emmy award-winning television variety specials in which she sang, danced, and appeared with guests such as Ray Charles, Kenny Rogers, George Benson, Merle Haggard, and Tom Jones.

After winning the Miss World USA crown in 1972, Carter found success as an actress in the Wonder Woman television series. She has also starred in the televised series Partners in Crime and the frontier drama Hawkeye. Her television credits include Family Blessings, Secrets Between Friends, and She Woke Up Pregnant, which all ranked in the Top 10. Carter produced and starred in the films Hotline, Stillwatch, Born to Be Sold, and The Last Song. She had leading roles in the movies Daddy and Posing: Inspired by Three Real Stories, and starred in the title role in Rita Hayworth: The Love Goddess.

On the big screen, Carter most recently appeared in the Disney film Sky High and 2005's The Dukes of Hazzard. She also starred in The Creature of the Sunny Side Up Trailer Park and Super Troopers.

Tickets are now on sale for John Byner opening for Lynda Carter at the CCPA. For tickets or more information, call (562) 467-8818, or go to www.cerritoscenter.com.

Lynda's Previous CD Signings:

Lynda Carter Sings: September 16, 2009 at 6:00PM. Borders Union Square 400 Post Street, San Francisco, California

Lynda Carter CD signing: September 11, 2009 at 7:00PM. Barnes & Noble 2000 Route 38, Cherry Hill, New Jersey

Lynda Carter Sings: September 10, 2009 at 6:30PM. Talbots 525 Madison Avenue, New York, NY Part of "Fashion's Night Out".

Lynda Carter CD signing: August 14, 2009 at 7:00PM. FYE Boston, MA

Lynda Carter CD signing: August 8, 2009 at 4:00PM. Chapters Indigo Yorkdale, Ontario, Canada
Lynda Carter CD signing: July 1, 2009 at 6:30PM. Barnes & Noble 555 12th Street NW, Washington
Lynda Carter Sings: June 9th, 2009 at 5:30PM. Barnes & Noble 1972 Broadway Lincoln Triangle New York, NY

Lynda Carter Sings: June 8th, 2009 at 8:00PM. SPLASH Bar Chelsea, New York, NY

Lynda's Concert Tour 2009 Schedule

Mohegan Sun Casino Uncasville, Connecticut December 12, 2009

March 5-7, 2009:

Catalina Jazz Club, Hollywood, CA   [map]

Thursday, March 5, 2009, 8 PM VIP Seating: $55 [Buy]

General Seating: $40 [Buy]

Friday, March 6, 2009, 8 PM VIP Seating: $60 [Buy]

General Seating: $45 [Buy]

Saturday, March 7, 2009, 8 PM VIP Seating: $60 [Buy]

General Seating: $45 [Buy]

March 13-14, 2009:

Jazz at Lincoln Center, Frederick P. Rose Hall, New York, NY   [map]

Event info and tickets
(Prices shown below include all fees and taxes.)

Friday, March 13, 2009, 7:30 PM Mezzanine: $52.50

Orchestra: $72.50

$87.50

Table: $102.50

Saturday, March 14, 2009, 7:30 PM Mezzanine: $52.50

Orchestra: $72.50

$87.50

Table: $102.50

March 18, 2009:

Second Annual Green Door Benefit and Gala

Willard InterContinental Hotel, Washington, DC   [map]

VIP Reception at 6:30 p.m.
Dinner at 7:30 p.m.

Lynda Carter with Tony Harrell on keyboard support a fundraiser for Green Door, a non-profit organization founded in 1976 which prepares people with severe and persistent mental illness to work and live independently. Green Door is recognized nationally as one of the most successful programs for people with a mental illness. Please help us support this important charity.

To purchase tickets, please contact .
Checks may be mailed to:

Green Door (Att: Development)
1623 16th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20009

Community Supporter: $500

(One ticket to Dinner)

VIP Supporter: $1,000

(One ticket to VIP Reception and Dinner)

Benefactor Sponsorship: $5,000

(Table of five, VIP Reception, listing in the printed program)

Steering Committee Sponsorship: $10,000

(Preferred table of ten, VIP Reception, special recognition, and listing in the printed program )

April 4, 2009:

Gallo Center for the Performing Arts, Modesto, CA   [map]

Saturday, April 4, 2009, 8 PM Ticket prices: $28 to $65 [Buy]

June 12-13, 2009:

Kennedy Center, Washington, DC   [map]

Friday, June 12, 2009, 7:30 PM Ticket prices: $45 to $75 [Buy]

Saturday, June 13, 2009, 7:30 PM Ticket prices: $45 to $75 [Buy]

Lynda's Concert Tour 2008 Schedule

National Museum for Women in the Arts Washington, DC November 7, 2008

Received a Lifetime Achievement Award

Feinstein's New York, New York October 28 - November 1, 2008

Harrah's Resort Atlantic City, New Jersey September 7 - 27, 2008

John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Washington, DC May 10, 2008

Marriott Harbor Benefit for Father Martin's Ashley Baltimore, Maryland May 9, 2008

Rrazz Room (Plush Room) San Francisco, California April 29 - May 4, 2008

Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts Cerritos, California April 27, 2008

Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza Thousand Oaks, California April 25, 2008

2007 VIDEOS

12.13.2007

Lynda attends National Treasure

LYNDA CARTER ATTENDS PREMIERE OF "NATIONAL TREASURE: BOOK OF SECRETS" - Ziegfeld Theatre in New York Actress Lynda Carter arrives at the "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" New York Premiere - Outside Arrival".
12.13.2007

Lynda Carter

LYNDA CARTER ATTENDS PREMIERE OF "NATIONAL TREASURE: BOOK OF SECRETS"

12.5.2007

AOL TV has released a list of the '50 Sexiest Women on Television, Ever'.

TV's Sexiest Women - Ever
1. Pamela Anderson - Baywatch

2. Farrah Fawcett - Charlie's Angel's

3. Lynda Carter - Wonder Woman

4. Heather Locklear - Melrose Place, Dynasty, T. J. Hooker

5. Eva Longoria - Desperate Housewives

6. Diana Rigg - The Avengers

7. Barbara Eden - I Dream Of Jeannie

8. Katherine Heigl - Grey's Anatomy

9. Catherine Bach - The Duke's of Hazzard

10. Tina Louise - Gilligan's Island

11.07.2007

Lynda Carter and husband Robert Altman Arrive at the Premiere of Lions for Lambs screening

Hosted by Piaget on November 2, 2007 in Washington D.C.

11.07.2007

Lynda Carter and husband Robert Altman stand for photos at the Lions For Lambs screening after Party hosted by Piaget on November 7, 2007 in Washington, D.C.

11.7.2007

Lynda Carter and husband Robert Altman Arrive at the Premiere of Lions for Lambs screening hosted by Piaget on November 7, 2007 in Wahington D.C.

11.7.2007

Paiget President Larry Boland and Lynda Carter stand for photos at the Lions For Lambs screening After Party hosted by Piaget on November 7, 2007 in Washington, DC.

10.30.2007

Wonder Woman Returns

earlyshowlynda

Older news »

lyndainstinctmag Lynda Carter | Celebrity Interviews
10.10.2007

STARRLIGHT Lynda Carter at the Apollo

Lynda Carter, as part of her national tour after a 20-year hiatus, adorned Chicago's Apollo Theatre with six special performances, where she beautifully sang many of the most popular and beloved ballads and jazz classics of the 20th century, including Always, Summertime, As Time Goes By and Blues In The Night. She also joyfully flashed her tastefully enormous diamonds as she sang My Heart Belongs To Daddy. Her rendition of Put The Blame On Mame, a song made famous in the 1946 film Gilda, starring the gorgeous Rita Hayworth, was a particular favorite with the closing night audience. Carter was backed by a fantastic six-piece band led by pianist Michael Orland—who is currently the arranger, pianist and associate musical director for the Fox TV show American Idol, and who has worked with dozens of the most famous stars in the music industry.
Linda Jean Cordova Carter was born July 24, 1951, in Phoenix, Ariz., and studied music and drama throughout her childhood and teen years. Carter left Arizona State University to tour with a rock band, and returned home in 1972 to begin a modeling career. In 1973, Carter was crowned Miss World-USA and, in 1975, won the coveted role of television's Wonder Woman, for which she will always be fondly remembered. Carter went on to produce, host, sing and dance in five Network television variety shows and movies, and has also performed in numerous venues that include London's Palladium, and the MGM Grand and Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.
Carter has received numerous honors. In 1978, The International Academy of Beauty voted Carter 'The Most Beautiful Woman In The World.' In 1980, Carter, who is of Mexican and Irish parentage, was given the Ariel Award, Mexico's highest honor, for International Entertainer of the Year presented by the Mexican Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and in 1983 the Hispanic Women's Council of Los Angeles awarded her the distinction of 'Hispanic Woman of the Year.' Carter is married to Washington lawyer Robert Altman, and they have two children.
Carter was extremely personable and fun when we met after her show, posing and signing autographs for fans, including several entertainers and the exuberant owners and staff of Chicago's Kit Kat Supper Club.
Check out Windy City Queercast's Aug. 11 interview with Carter at WindyCityQueercast.com.
Photo of Lynda Carter at the Apollo Theatre taken Sept. 16 by Steve Starr

9.20.2007
June 20, 2007 (KABC-TV) (KABC) -- TV icon Lynda Carter flies into the Southland and lands her cabaret act at a favorite Hollywood club.

Lynda Carter is making her L.A. stage debut with her new show, "An Intimate Evening With Lynda Carter."

"It is my L.A. stage debut but more importantly it's returning to my first love, which is singing," says Carter.

Lynda is returning to singing after 20 years away from it. She has been performing since the age of five.
By 10, she was composing her own songs. And by 14, she was in a band.

But then came the enormous success of "Wonder Woman" and the enormous responsibility and love of motherhood.

And more recently work in films, including "The Dukes of Hazzard" and "Sky High." So this has been a long time coming.

"When I first gave it up I didn't really think I was giving it up.
I thought I would go back on the road, but it never worked out. Now it has and I am thrilled beyond belief.
I really did take my music more for granted until I was away from it.
And everytime I would go to a concert, it would almost hurt. But I didn't know how I was going to get back to it," explains Carter.

But she has and she's loving every last note of it.
Since I was interested in this new part of Lynda's career, I didn't ask her about "Wonder Woman" at all.
And that was a first for her in 30-plus years of interviews!
You can catch Lynda's show at Catalina's Jazz Bar and Grill in Hollywood.

For Additional Information:
www.catalinajazz club.com

8.23.2007

Latina.MS
Wonder Woman Lynda Carter returns to Hollywood

By Sandra Marquez
Born to a Mexican-American mother and an Anglo father in Miami, Arizona, Linda Jean Cordova Carter grew up to become one of America's most iconic figures: Wonder Woman.
In many ways, the actress who became known as Lynda Carter on the hit 1970s entertainment series was a mirror.
To young Latinas in the know-such as Constance Marie of The George Lopez Show - she was a role model. Many others had no idea that Carter was Mexican American. But she became a universal figure for her portrayal of Wonder Woman as an everyday woman with superhuman powers.
Although she has worked on other projects since her hit TV series, Carter bowed out of the spotlight for many years to raise her family.
She now lives in suburban Washington, D.C., with her lawyer husband, Robert Altman, and their two teenage children, Jessica and James. Carter, 54, makes her most high-profile comeback this summer in the Disney movie Sky High, in which she plays Principal Powers, the head mistress at a high school for the children of superheroes.

Tell me about your family history.
My mother grew up in a place called Globe, Arizona. My grandmother came to Arizona when she was a baby. They emigrated from Chihuahua, Mexico. Probably my best memories of childhood were in Globe. My grandmother would make her big stack of tortillas and we'd make menudo and it was all about eating.

Did you grow up hearing Spanish?
My father did not speak Spanish, so we didn't grow up with it on a daily basis, but around my mother's family I pretty much understood everything.

Raquel Welch has spoken about how, growing up, her Bolivian father would not speak Spanish in the home because he was afraid that she would be discriminated against. Did you ever experience that growing up?
No, but my mother I think did. If anything, I experienced a reverse discrimination in that I am not really Hispanic because my last name is Carter, and because I don't look it. That I am not really Hispanic because I don't talk about it 24/7 and my skin is not dark enough.

In your lifetime and career, have you seen a change in how Hispanics are regarded and the roles that are available?
People are surprised when they learn that I am half Latina even though all through my career from the very, very first, I spoke of it. And I speak of it proudly.

Constance Marie of The George Lopez Show keeps a poster of you in her dressing room. She says you are her hero.
I know, I signed a poster for her. She was doing Good Morning America and they surprised her by having me call her. It was just wonderful to have had a positive effect on a person who has gone on to do such wonderful things. And she is so sweet. The one thing about Latinas, there is passion in our lives. We love passionately.

Tell me about Sky High. What did you like about this project?
Oh, it was a blast. I got to work with an old friend, Kurt Russell, and Kelly Preston was a delight to work with. I was grateful to be in a big movie like this. It was fantastic. And it's funny.

Reflect for a moment on Wonder Woman as a cultural icon. What does she represent to you? And what do you think will be the lasting message of Wonder Woman?
I think that she lives in all of us. I think there is that secret identity that we all have that as little girls we grow up with. Somehow when we reach puberty it seems to be hidden or people see us as women as opposed to people. I think it is familiarity what has made her so enduring. I never played it goofy or stupid or anything like that. She was smart and right in your face.

6.25.2007

Caption: Lynda Carter with her family - Jessica Altman (daughter), Colby Carter (father), Lynda Carter and James Altman (son)

6.23.2007

Lynda Carter on the 'Wonder Woman' Movie

Entertainment Tonight

Who does TV's "Wonder Woman" think should star in the planned big-screen 'Wonder Woman' movie? TV's original "Wonder Woman,"
LYNDA CARTER, recently stopped by the ET set to promote her all-new musical review and upcoming CD that she's recording. In the late '70s, Lynda captured the attention and imagination of TV and comic book fans everywhere as the beloved DC Comics character, and now she weighs in on the new 'Wonder Woman' movie that's been languishing in development.
"I think [they should cast] an unknown," she tells ET's THEA ANDREWS. "And I think the problem that they're having is getting the right script and trying to find the right person at the right age. By the time they get the right script, maybe the person they were thinking about is now ten years older."
Several actresses have been rumored to be in consideration for the role since 2001, including frontrunner SANDRA BULLOCK, CATHERINE ZETA-JONES, MARIAH CAREY, CHARISMA CARPENTER and SOPHIA BUSH.
As for the plotline, Lynda says, "I think they need to tie the story of what happened to the old Wonder Woman into where the new one is. They could somehow bridge it, and let the baton be [passed along]."
'Die Hard' mega-action producer JOEL SILVER has been developing the script for quite some time. Most recently, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Firefly" creator JOSS WHEDON took a crack at the project, but ultimately left due to the classic "creative differences." At this stage, a new writer and director have yet to be announced for the project.

6.22.2007

Entertainment Tonight / ETonline.com
Wonder Woman herself hits the ET stage to talk about the dramatic highs and lows of life behind the golden lasso.
In the late '70s, LYNDA CARTER captured the attention and imagination of TV and comic book fans everywhere as "Wonder Woman." But behind the hourglass figure and golden lasso was a serious problem: alcoholism.
"I needed help," Lynda tells ET's own THEA ANDREWS, explaining that alcoholism ran in her family. "When I became unhappy in my first marriage, I started drinking. It was so far beyond what I was capable of handling or controlling, and that's what the disease is; then you backtrack and figure out it's not just about not drinking -- it's about healing, it's about discovering, and learning about your disease and what it takes to prevent it.
"The fear was really more about being outed and the fear that this house of cards [would collapse]," she continues, referring to her success while hiding her disease. "If I can't inspire someone to talk to their loved one, it's to have the courage to say, 'I need help.' If you try to do it by yourself, you're taking the hard way out."
Coming up on 10 years sober, Lynda has joined the board of directors of Father Martin's Ashley, an addiction treatment center, to help raise money and awareness.
The beautiful star and mother of two has also retained a high profile with roles in movies like 'Sky High,' 'Super Troopers' and 'The Dukes of Hazzard,' and on TV in "Smallville." She also sang and danced as Mama Morton in the West End production of Chicago in London, and now she's smoldering onstage with an all-new revue: "An Intimate Evening with Lynda Carter."
"I'm doing some jazz, I'm doing some blues, I'm doing some oldies, some standards," says Lynda, singling out such artists as PATSY CLINE, PAUL SIMON, JAMES TAYLOR and BILLIE HOLIDAY in her cabaret act.
Lynda performs at Catalina's Jazz Bar & Grill in Hollywood, CA, this weekend (June 22 - 24).
Singing is nothing new for Lynda, who grew up in a musical household, inspired by her mother -- she played guitar at 10 and joined a band at only 14. After her show in Hollywood this weekend, she's on to recording a new CD!
There's no denying that Lynda looks amazing for her age, and the former Wonder Woman shares her secret: Rowing and cardio!
"[I use] the real boat that's, like, 12 feet long, and it's single, with oars on the Potomac River," explains Lynda, "and you can see the monuments and it's right over Kennedy Center. As long as I'm getting some heart stuff, maybe six out of seven days, whether it's walking, biking, whatever, I like to change it up. Things just start falling south, what can I say? You just do the best you can, and if I want that piece of chocolate, I'm going to have it -- but I'm going to have the best piece of chocolate that's out there."
Watch ET for more with Lynda Carter!

6.21.2007

All The World Is Waiting For You

IN Magazine

By Richard Andreoli

Lynda Carter may have cast aside the golden lariat and those magic bracelets, but she’s still a wonder— behind the mic.

Long before she spun onto television screens as Wonder Woman, Lynda Carter knew she was a singer. She performed in clubs and lounges with numerous bands, and even dropped out of Arizona State University so that she could pursue a full-time music career. However, it was during her tenure as the star-spangled super heroine that the whole world learned of Carter’s vocal abilities.
“Wonder Woman took my singing to a level I never had before,” Carter says from her home in Maryland. “I got the [televised] variety specials because of it, opened at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, then played all over to thousands of people. Everywhere from the Palladium to the Sporting Club in Monte-Carlo.” Carter even cut her own album, entitled Portrait, though she jokingly says only 30 people purchased the record.
And then the music seemingly fell silent for 20 years.
“When I had my son, I gave up the road,” Carter says of her singing career. “I never intended to give it up, it just worked out that way.” She pauses for a moment, a new sense of excitement leaking into her voice. “But now it’s like things are coming full circle, and I couldn’t be happier.”
An Intimate Evening with Lynda Carter opens June 22 and runs for three nights at the Catalina Jazz Bar & Grill in Hollywood. Armed with only a five-person band and her own powerful voice—as it was when she first started out—Carter performs an eclectic mix of blues, jazz and some medleys from her old variety shows.
“Performing in a cabaret setting is like singing to a bunch of friends in your living room,” she says. “It’s so immediate. On some elemental level it feels like that’s where I belong.”
The brainchild of event producer Scott Stander, An Intimate Evening with Lynda Carter was not an easy-sell to the former Diana Prince. Stander had approached her to do some kind of show in the past, but between family life, various projects and a distinct case of nerves, it never happened. Then, two years ago, Carter performed Mama Morton in London’s West End production of Chicago, and when positive reviews poured in, Stander suggested she do a small show in a city they both knew would warmly welcome her: San Francisco.
“My son has gone off to college, my daughter will be a junior next year in high school, and I just thought the time is right,” Carter says.
She immediately contacted musical director Johnny Harris, a close friend she’d worked with on her TV specials. The duo put together some song selections, then teamed with Michael Orland, the pianist, arranger and associate musical director for American Idol. Soon the San Francisco show came together, and, as Carter says, “I climbed the ladder, got on the platform, and stepped out on the high wire.”
But did the fans like her?
“Oh my God, did they ever!” exclaims Stander. “She came on stage and it was like an earthquake. This was an audience that was so glad to see her on stage, looking and sounding so great. Every performance was like that and the critics liked her, so it was a great success in every way.”
“I was a little bit overwhelmed by the reception, to tell you the truth,” Carter says, the smile evident in her voice. “Putting the nerves aside, it really felt familiar, in a way that your hometown feels familiar. There’s a cliché of riding a bike again, but this was more than that. There was a feeling of familiarity that was really moving. It was the reason why singing was my first love.”
With San Francisco selling out and Los Angeles looking to do the same, Stander and his team are targeting other major cities with similar-sized venues.
“She’s such a natural up there,” Stander says. “A lot of people don’t want to play small rooms, but there’s a connection with a smaller audience. You see their faces, and there’s a spontaneity to the performance. Lynda gets that.”
Between these cabaret evenings, her recent success on the CW show Smallville, and the enormous attention she garnered for being in feature films Dukes of Hazard and Sky High, Carter’s star is on the rise once again. And yet when asked about what cities she’ll hit after Los Angeles, or if the rumors about recording a new CD are true, she takes a very cautious tone.
“San Francisco was the big experiment, and if I fell on my face I probably wouldn’t be singing in L.A.,” she says of the cabaret acts. “My daughter is still in high school, and I don’t want to commit to a tour where I’m working all the time, but yes. Short answer: yes.”
As for the CD, “At this particular point, I would have to say … ” she stops, considering how best to answer the question. “It is all in the works and, yes, it’s being talked about seriously. I probably will do that in the next couple months.”
Her reticence to offer up definite plans—as if doing so may jinx them— is understandable. Following Wonder Woman, Carter’s acting career revolved around occasional TV movie roles and a few short-lived series. She then found herself under the media’s spotlight when her second husband, Robert Altman, became embroiled in a financial scandal involving the Bank of Credit and Commerce International. He was acquitted of all charges, but it was Carter’s diligent presence during the trial that often stood out in the public eye.
But while these experiences may shape how Carter discusses future plans, she acknowledges that they have also influenced her outlook on both life and work.
“People can have a beautiful voice, but unless the heart is behind it, it doesn’t mean much,” she observes. “I’m a different person than I was 20 years ago, and living life has changed my approach to the music in a subtle, refined way.” And as for the future, Carter just keeps things in very simple perspective.
“Right now I’m enjoying this intimate, palpable experience,” she says. “As long as I can do that I will continue the ride.”

For Los Angeles tickets and show information, call 323-466-2210 or visit www.catalinajazzclub.com; to find out about Lynda Carter’s future performances, visit www.lyndacartersings.com.

5.7.2007

Progeny

5.7.2007

Progeny

5.7.2007

Lynda Carter: Amazing Performance

Progeny

4.30.2007

Spinning Some Wonder Wisdom About Boys, Bette, Democrats and Cabaret

I hope that every little thing comes back to you in your life a hundredfold. I really do.

I'm such a big believer in the "pay it forward" concept; the idea that in your lifetime there are many people who extend their hand in friendship, in mentoring, in giving you thoughts. The only way to repay that is to do it for the next person. It's really kind of what makes life happier. You attract to yourself that which you put out.

It's kind of the way my whole career has gone. About five years ago, I decided that I really wanted to do some roles that were out of the box, and to work in a way that was not the normal heroine role. And, that's how I got to play a tough grifter on Law & Order, or the crazy mom on Smallville, or a military vampire killer in Slayer, or Mama Morton in Chicago in London. If you are doing the right thing, and if you are defining what you want, then the universe wants to give it to you!

Television has changed. Wonder Woman was groundbreaking at the time. They didn't even think a woman could carry a show on television. There was a tendency to be a little dismissive, because she's pretty, because she's got a good body. Wonder Woman broke the mold for a young, pretty woman being able to carry a show. I knew the role was up for grabs, and went out for it. I knew that she was, and is, a character that had the potential of being very influential in terms of how women see themselves, and how men see a woman being. Yes she can be beautiful, and she can be all that stuff, but she's smart and she can kick my butt.

It was a very conscious decision on my part to play against what was expected. I never played sexuality. I never tried to "play" Wonder Woman. She didn't think she was all that! She's not all full of herself, and certainly not against men...but for women! It was just about being who she was, and trying to connect to that secret self that we have.

Every gay reader understands the secret self that is full and wonderful and has longing and tenderness and a desire for connection to other people. I think that arguments against gay marriage are just ridiculous! Who cares? People want to get married for the same reason I wanted to get married. They want to do it in front of their friends and family. They want it to be a legally binding thing. They want to have that commitment. The idea that there's some moral issue about it is so ridiculous.
I'm definitely a Democrat. I'm liberal in my thinking, in terms of equality for people. I would much rather have one day's worth of the money we spend in Iraq thrown into our schools. Just about how much that war is costing us a month, just take that money and say, "Okay, we'll get out a month early, and take all that money and throw it into the public school system." There's an idea! I pay a lot of money in taxes, and I'm happy to do it, but not when it's just blown on these wars, when our sons and daughters are dying.

I am the hugest fan of Bette Midler, ever since she was singing in the bathhouses in New York, and her first album came out. I thought, Oh, my god, if I had the gay and lesbian following, I will really know I've made it. I didn't really even know that I had a gay and lesbian following until maybe 15 years ago. A woman came to my house to interview me, and she said, "Oh, my god, you don't know!"

I've never met one gay or lesbian person that didn't know something was different about them from the time they can remember. Not one! It really hurts me that there are people that feel so superior and so high and mighty about passing judgment. I believe in God. He never mistakes. This is not a mistake. It's not a choice.

I'm doing a concert series in San Francisco on May 1-6 at The Plush Room. I sang with the band The Relatives, in San Francisco, in 1970. I was out of high school and started off with them. Since then, I've played every arena that you can think of, but right now, I'm kind of re-starting out more slowly. I really am not focused on anything other than I have an opportunity to sing exactly what I want to sing, to do the music that I want to, and that's it! I'm hoping that the seats will be filled. It's going to be standards, some Broadway, some stuff from my old act, but with back-stories about various things. No Bob Mackie dresses this time.

One last thought on Wonder Woman: I really do hope that Warner Brothers is able to write a heartwarming script for the next person to do Wonder Woman, because it's the role that should go on to inspire. It's not me, it is the character. Yeah, I embodied her, but there is room for other people to do the same, to carry on with it.

Check for news of Lynda's concert tour dates by clicking here!

4.29.2007

SFGate.com

Lynda Carter makes her cabaret debut this week at the Empire Plush Room. The actress, best known for her portrayal of Wonder Woman in the 1970s," recently appeared in the films "Sky High" and "The Dukes of Hazzard" and played Mama Morton in London's West End production of "Chicago." Carter appears Tuesday through May 6 at the lounge in the York Hotel.
Q: The last time I heard you sing was on an episode of "Wonder Woman" called "Amazon Hot Wax." Will your Plush Room appearance be that good?
A: That's the last time you heard me sing? I think it might be a stretch for me to come to the Plush Room if that's all I sang. I sang every day of my life from the age of 14 until I got pregnant.
Q: That's a good reason to stop. Do you think your show will be as good as that episode?
A: I don't remember it. When you're doing a series, you don't differentiate between episodes. They all run into each other.
Q: You starred in "Wonder Woman" for only three seasons. Is it some kind of cosmic punishment that you still have to talk about it three decades later?
A: I know. It's like, "Get a life, Lynda." Oh, my life as Wonder Woman. She existed before me. I'm hoping when they get around to casting someone else that they really kick ass, because I hope that the script is brilliant, the director is brilliant and she is brilliant. We need to bring around the next generation, and we need a fresh look.
Q: Will you at least wear the outfit?
A: Let me think. Should I? Shouldn't I? Um, no.
Q: Do you realize how many tickets you would sell if you did?
A: Honey, it's either that or I would drive them away in droves. The fantasy is always better than the reality.
Q: What song did you sing when you competed in the Miss World pageant?
A: I didn't. That's Miss USA. There's no talent stuff in Miss World. It's just T and A, basically, and you answer some questions. That was about it. When I gave up my crown, I sang the most inappropriate song. They wanted me to sing something sweet, and I sang a Billie Holiday rendition of "God Bless the Child."
Q: If you sing that at the Plush Room, it might make up for the lack of red knee-high boots.
A: Well, I can't sing it like Billie. But I can sing it like Lynda.
Q: How high did you get with Willie Nelson on the set of "The Dukes of Hazzard"?
A: Oh, honey. I don't do that anymore. Done. Besides, I don't give away any secrets.

4.19.2007

Superhero worlds collide tonight when Lynda Carter pays a visit to Smallville (8 pm/ET on the CW).

Allison Mack and Lynda Carter, Smallville
The actress became a worldwide star in 1976 when she was cast as TV's Wonder Woman, and since that show's end she has kept busy with movies-of-the-week, TV guest roles, films and theater work, including a recent run in the London production of Chicago.
On Smallville she plays Moira Sullivan, the mysterious mother of Allison Mack's Chloe. Though viewers learned two seasons ago that Moira was in a mental institution, "Obviously it was a much bigger secret than that," says executive producer Al Gough.
"Moira is meteor-infected" and has the power to mentally control other so-called "meteor freaks" — those who have gained special abilities after being exposed to radioactive kryptonite fragments. TV Guide lassoed Carter from her home outside of Washington, D.C., to get the scoop.

TV Guide: This wasn't the first time Smallville approached you about a role. What was it about this particular part that won you over?

Lynda Carter: You get offered things quite often and sometimes you'll get a script for a show that you like, but you're not crazy about the character. Or, you've played the heroine role a million times when you've been around as long as I have. But the fact that this character was formerly psychotic, that she was in a catatonic state, there's a wonderful character arc there. Moira is a bit of a soap opera in one person: love, loss, magic meteorites. So I told them I would love to do it.

TV Guide: Do you watch Smallville?
Carter: I like the show — it's got a beautiful look, it's well done, and it's well thought out. I don't follow it [every week] but my daughter asked me to get her one of the DVDs for Christmas last year, so I was pretty familiar with what was happening.

TV Guide: How was your experience on the set?
Carter: You're working with a group of people that have been together for a long time, so they're a family, but it was a very welcoming group. There was no tension or divas, and it's not always that way. I particularly enjoyed working with the director, Terrence O'Hara, who I thought was really great. And everyone really loves Allison. She was great to work with, a real pro. I had actually brought a blonde wig so that we'd look a little bit more like each other. We looked so great together, but I think they really wanted the dark hair. [Laughs]

TV Guide: I think the fans will be very happy to see you on the show, whatever your hair color is. Chloe is a huge fan favorite, so they're going to love finding out more about her backstory.
Carter: Well, I'm happy to hear that I have helped close at least part of the circle of what the deal was for Chloe.

TV Guide: How does Moira wind up back in Chloe's life?
Carter: Honey, I cannot give that away. No way, you have to watch it. If [the producers] want to tell you, it's fine. [TV Guide asked, and here's what executive producer Al Gough had to say: "Lex Luthor is using Chloe's mom to help track down some missing meteor freaks. Moira has been in a semicomatose state and Lex has found something to bring her out of that. She doesn't want to do Lex's bidding, she wants to reconnect with Chloe. We have some really terrific mother-daughter reunion scenes with them."]

TV Guide: What was it like stepping back into the world of superheroes?
Carter: Comfortable. Because the main thing is buying into it. You have to buy into it.

TV Guide: Obviously you've done a lot of other roles, but it's nice to see someone who isn't running away from their most iconic character.
Carter: A long time ago I made the choice to embrace it and enjoy what it is people are trying to say to me, and understand that it's not really about me. It's about the work I've done and that I made [Wonder Woman/Diana Prince] a likable character.

TV Guide: So you really don't mind the Wonder Woman legacy?
Carter: Like every other actor, you would like to be recognized for all the other work that you do, but c'est la vie! So I don't dwell on it. I try to live in the present. I know one thing I would like, and that's for that baton to be passed. I know that they've been trying to make a Wonder Woman movie for a long time, and I really hope that — whoever takes this role — it is a huge success. Not to diminish what I did, because it's not about that, but it's the kind of role that needs to go forward. It needs new juice. But I hope they keep the integrity of the character, her goodness. She's not just about superpowers. She's an in-depth human being. She just loves people, and she really wants to do the right thing.

3.25.2007
lynda&epper Epper pulls out all the stunts - USATODAY.com

Enlarge Taurus World Stunt Awards
1978: Jeannie Epper holds Lynda Carter, who calls stuntwoman "trailblazing."

Epper pulls out all the stunts

By Marco R. della Cava, USA TODAY

VALLEY VILLAGE, Calif. — In a nondescript office buried inside a forgettable building sits a woman with an unrecognizable face.

Such utter anonymity suits Jeannie Epper. For 57 of her 66 hard-lived years, Epper has served as stunt double for a celebrated cast of hundreds. When Joan Collins let fly at Linda Evans on Dynasty, it was Epper taking the fall. When it came time for Wonder Woman to do anything wonderful, Epper leaped in.

"Stunt people have to be good actors," she says, dressed in a track suit with the imprint of the United Stuntwomen's Association, a group of two dozen stuntwomen she is less leader of and more mother hen to. "We don't even play other people. We play actors playing other people."

Each Academy Award season helps perpetuate the myth that actors truly become the characters they're playing. But everyone knows that when the scene gets tough, the tough call in the double.

Despite "annual requests" from the stunt community to add a stunt Oscar, there "are no plans right now" to do that, says academy spokeswoman Teni Melidonian.

Epper is of a tradition that's happy to stay in the shadows. After all, she says, this is a profession that before the early '70s didn't even get screen credit. But even she hopes the Oscars will eventually extend a statuette to stunt performers. "We're members of the Screen Actors Guild, too," she says. "We all want to be recognized for the work we do."

Epper is getting her due.

In a response to the academy snub, the stunt community has gathered each spring since 2000 to praise its own at the Taurus World Stunt Awards. This May, Epper will receive the lifetime achievement award, the first stuntwoman to claim such an honor in what remains a male-centric profession.

"She was trailblazing (in Wonder Woman), because even in the late '70s, it wasn't uncommon for men to double women for sequences that involved the kinds of things we did," says Wonder Woman Lynda Carter. "I was just a lonely kid back then. Jeannie and the rest of her (stunt) crew became my friends."

Epper's bond with her peers remains fierce. "Jeannie's the best. I've known her 41 years, and, heck, we probably should have had some kind of romance, but that would have killed the friendship," says stunt coordinator Terry Leonard.

He directed Epper in a memorable scene from Romancing the Stone. Doubling Kathleen Turner, Epper had to careen down a mudslide in a sequence that hurt just to watch. "I had Jeannie and the fellow doubling Michael Douglas do this scene over and over. They were getting beat up, it was cold, they were wet," he says. "Finally, Jeannie just said, 'I can't.' That's when I knew I had lost my perspective. If she couldn't do another take, then I knew right then it was over."

Epper waves off praise. But she does get misty over a memory: "I do wish that my father (who died in 1992) could be here to see me get this award. He's the reason I'm in the business."

While wrangling horses for a movie, John Epper took the place of an actor who could not make a horse jump over a car. He went on to perform stunts in everything from Santa Fe Trail to Love Me Tender.

Along the way, he had six children, who followed his lead. Jeannie Epper's three grown children are in the stunt business, as is one grandkid. "Four generations of Eppers," jokes Leonard. "They're like lemmings."

Hollywood's reflected glamour is one reason Eppers don't become accountants. But it's not an easy life. "I've been in plenty of real barroom fights, and it's not something I'm proud of," she says. "But it was part of our lives. You went out, did your thing, risked your neck, then let off steam."

She's single now, a situation she laments but understands. Epper says she tried too hard to be a real-life Wonder Woman. "I wanted to be good at my craft, to be at PTA meetings, to be at soccer games, to be at home for my husband." It led to the realization that perhaps her first love was indeed the stunt world.

"She is the matriarch," says Amanda Micheli, director of the 2005 documentary Double Dare, which focuses on the exploits of Epper and newcomer Zoe Bell. "She deserves to be a leading stunt coordinator, which can lead to directing jobs. But this business is still the biggest boys' club there is. Maybe this (award) will finally help her reach that significant goal."

"It would be nice," Epper says, "but I'm not counting on it."

In the meantime, she fills her days helping young stuntwomen get jobs through the association. That's not to say she's beyond getting roughed up herself. The bruises take longer to disappear, and she's less interested in risky stunts. But she enjoyed getting flung around a runaway train for CBS' The Unit, and she tumbled on an ice rink for Will Ferrell and Jon Heder for Blades of Glory.

"Inside, I'm still the same 9-year-old girl who did her first stunt on horseback, riding down a cliff looking very out of control and loving every second of it," she says. "When they call, it's hard to say no."

Enlarge By Dan MacMedan, USA TODAY

Like father, like daughter: Stuntwoman Jeannie Epper broke into the male-dominated field after her father did. Now, her three adult children are in the business as well.

2.26.2007

E!Online
Lynda Carter to Guest Star on Smallville
Monday, February 26, 2007

Kris De Leon
Staff Writer, BuddyTV

The legendary Lynda Carter, actress known to personify Wonder Woman, will guest star on Smallville this season. The episode is called “Progeny” which will be aired on April 12, 2007.

Carter, a 56-year old American Actress known for her Amazonian title, is a native of Arizona. She studied at Globe High School and Arcadia School. An avid reader of the Wonder Woman comics, she initially aspired to pursue a career in music, a decision that led her to tour with several rock groups. Named Miss World USA in 1972, she gained national fame which was eventually followed by a number of TV guest appearances on such shows like Starsky and Hutch, Cos, Nakia and movies like Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw. But her biggest break ever was her role as Diana Prince or Wonder Woman on the television series of the same name. Recently, this notable celebrity appeared in movies like Sky High and The Dukes of Hazzard. And although the pinnacle of her stardom prevailed during the 70’s, she is still deemed as a heroic icon and maintains her image as a "stars and stripes heroine" even after her television series, which lasted three years.

Even though Carter is notable for playing heroic roles, she will not be playing a superhero on Smallville. In fact, she is going to portray the long-vanished mother of fearless Daily Planet reporter Chloe Sullivan (portrayed by Allison Mack) named Mama Moira Sullivan. Her inclusion in the said episode will finally bring light to Moira’s lengthy disappearance. Moreover, the episode is also said to contain much confrontation and flashbacks. And although there has been much anticipation on the show to guest star notable actors known for playing superhero roles in the past, her inclusion on the television series is just good for one episode.

The much-awaited episode is the eighteenth episode of season six. Smallville airs Thursdays at 8 PM on CW Network.

-Kris De Leon, BuddyTV Staff Columnist

2.12.2007

'WONDER' BRED Carter, best known to 1970s' TV audiences as the superhero Woman (pictured), is scheduled to guest on ''Smallville'' April 12

Image credit: MPTV

Wonder Woman is coming to Smallville! Well, sorta. Lynda Carter, who played the DC Comics superheroine in the campy 1970s TV series, will appear in the April 12 episode of Smallville as Moira Sullivan, mother of intrepid Daily Planet reporter Chloe Sullivan (Allison Mack). The show placed Moira in a mental institution earlier this season, but all a network rep will spill about Moira's current status is that ''her whereabouts play a huge part in the episode.'' The rep will confirm, however, that Carter is set to appear in only a single episode.

Lynda talks about Wonder Woman

Lynda talks about Wonder Woman

Special features wonder woman part 2

Lynda and Johnny - Hollywood's Finest

Lynda for Exceptional Children

Lynda Carter Special Celebration

Lynda Tribute to her Grandma

Lynda on the Bob Hope Show

LYNDA 2006

11.14.2006

Actress Lynda Carter arrives at 'Chicago' the musical's 10 year anniversary all-star performance benefiting Safe Horizons at the Ambassador Theatre November 14, 2006 in New York City. (Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images Entertainment)
11.14.2006

Actress Lynda Carter performs live onstge during a dress rehearsal for the 10th Anniversary of Broadway's 'Chicago' on November 14, 2006 in New York City. (November 14, 2006 - Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images Entertainment)

11.14.2006

Actress Lynda Carter performs live onstge during a dress rehearsal for the 10th Anniversary of Broadway's 'Chicago' on November 14, 2006 in New York City. (November 14, 2006 - Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images Entertainment)

Lynda Carter
6.28.2006

Remember This?

Issue #11 The Bionic Woman Vs Wonder Woman

Lindsay Wagner and Lynda Carter

This is issue #11 and I have to admit, that is has a poor rendition of Wonder Woman (Lynda Carter) and The Bionic Woman (Lindsay Wagner) on the front cover. Wonder Woman looks nothing like Lynda and the Bionic Woman,while showing an ok resemblance to Lindsay, makes it look as though she has 5 o'clock shadow and needs a shave. The artist for this issue's cover was Katrina Taylor.

Lindsay went on to have a successful career in entertainment making lots of TV movies. Lynda did several more series and even released an album called Portrait in 1978.


(l to r) Lynda Carter, Patti Austin and Sue Else, President NNEDV, at the National Network to end Domestic Violence.	Lynda Carter performs at the National Network to End Domestic Violence's 2nd annual fall gala.	(l to r) Lynn Rosenthal, White House Advisor on Violence Against Women, and Lynda Carter End Domestic Violence.	Actress and model Lynda Carter (c) talks with Joe Cassilly (r) at the National Network to End Domestic Violence.

Thursday, March 5, 2009, 8 PM	VIP Seating:	$55	[Buy]
	General Seating:	$40	[Buy]

Friday, March 6, 2009, 8 PM	VIP Seating:	$60	[Buy]
	General Seating:	$45	[Buy]

Saturday, March 7, 2009, 8 PM	VIP Seating:	$60	[Buy]
	General Seating:	$45	[Buy]

Friday, March 13, 2009, 7:30 PM	Mezzanine:	$52.50
	Orchestra:	$72.50
		$87.50
	Table:	$102.50

Saturday, March 14, 2009, 7:30 PM	Mezzanine:	$52.50
	Orchestra:	$72.50
		$87.50
	Table:	$102.50

Community Supporter:	$500
(One ticket to Dinner)

VIP Supporter:	$1,000
(One ticket to VIP Reception and Dinner)

Benefactor Sponsorship:	$5,000
(Table of five, VIP Reception, listing in the printed program)

Steering Committee Sponsorship:	$10,000
(Preferred table of ten, VIP Reception, special recognition, and listing in the printed program )

Friday, June 12, 2009, 7:30 PM	Ticket prices:	$45 to $75	[Buy]
Saturday, June 13, 2009, 7:30 PM	Ticket prices:	$45 to $75	[Buy]

CD Release! - April 26 2011: CLICK HERE TO BUY NOW!!!! Lynda Carter's 'Crazy Little Things' In Stores Now!

CD Release! - June 9 2009: CLICK HERE TO BUY NOW!!!! Lynda Carter's 'At Last' In Stores Now!

Lynda Carter 'disappointed' by 'Wonder Woman' axe

Episode 136: It’s A Wonder

Lynda Carter at Tyson's Corner

Lynda Carter: Therapy Should Be Mandatory for New Stars

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Wear Purple on October 20 for Spirit Day

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Are You in Need of Immediate Help?

Media/Blogger ContAct

How Has GLAAD Been Involved in Spirit Day?

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The Return Of ‘Wonder Woman?’ Linda Lee

The State Theatre presents That's Entertainment! A Las Vegas Experience, everything Vegas in 90 minutes, and featuring Las Vegas headliner Lynda Carter, for the State Theatre's 22nd Annual Benefit Gala on …

LYNDA CARTER

Lynda's Concert Tour 2010 Schedule

Fredericksburg, Virginia April 17, 2010 TO PURCHASE TICKETS CALL: 540.654.1012 Download Flyer

Lynda Carter to perform at UMW, Kennedy Center

Lynda Carter's Crazy Little Things

Kennedy Center, Washington, DC [map]

Lynda in the Media:

LYNDA CARTER SINGS IN LA TONIGHT AND TOMORROW!!!!

Sandra Bullock 'great' for Wonder Woman

Lynda Carter thinks Sandra Bullock is 'exactly' right to play Wonder Woman

Lynda Carter on GDLA

Broadway Opening Of The Miracle Worker - Arrivals & Curtain Call

The Sights, Sounds and Stars of The Miracle Worker's Broadway Opening

Music, life and Wonder Woman revisited

Lynda in the Media:

32nd Kennedy Center Honors(Lynda Carter)

Making Up America

Halloween Icon: Wonder Woman Lynda Carter

Wonder Woman Joins the Glenn Beck Bashing on The Joy Behar Show

Shepard Fairey Art Project Channels Celebs For Gay Marriage Equality

Take A Stand Gala

Almas boast Eclectic Music Taste Honorees range from rap to country

"At Last" debuted at number six on the Billboard Charts.

Carter: Palin unfit for my tiara and lasso

Lynda Carter: Radio Interview with Kathryn Finney

Wonder Woman

Lynda Carter's wonder years

Still identified with comic-book sex symbol she brought to life 30 years ago, Lynda Carter has come full circle, reviving her career as a singer

Lynda Carter, “At Last”

A Wonder Woman Still

Pop Quiz: Lynda Carter, the Singing Wonder

World Wonder

Lynda Carter talks about her new album, her upcoming show at the Kennedy Center and the importance of gay rights

Lynda Carter: The New Wonder Woman of Cabaret

Lynda Carter: It’s A Wonderful Life For TV’'s ‘Wonder Woman’

From 'Wonder Woman' to Singer!

Lynda Carter Loses The Hero Suit, Picks Up A Mic

Heart Truth - Backstage - Fall 09 MBFW(Lynda Carter)

Lynda's Interviews 2008

Lynda Carter's still a wonder in Atlantic City

Lynda Carter's Battle with the Bottle!

Paris Fashion Week - Christian Lacroix

Paris Fashion Week - Christian Lacroix

Paris Fashion Week - Christian Lacroix

68th Annual American Ballet Theatre Spring Gala

The Metropolitan Museum Of Art Costume Institute Annual Gala - Arrivals

Lynda's Concert Tour 2009 Schedule

March 5-7, 2009:

Catalina Jazz Club, Hollywood, CA [map]

March 13-14, 2009:

Jazz at Lincoln Center, Frederick P. Rose Hall, New York, NY [map]

March 18, 2009:

Second Annual Green Door Benefit and Gala

Willard InterContinental Hotel, Washington, DC [map]

April 4, 2009:

Gallo Center for the Performing Arts, Modesto, CA [map]

June 12-13, 2009:

Kennedy Center, Washington, DC [map]

Lynda's Concert Tour 2008 Schedule

Lynda attends National Treasure

Lynda Carter

CD Release! - April 26 2011:
CLICK HERE TO BUY NOW!!!! Lynda Carter's 'Crazy Little Things' In Stores Now!

CD Release! - June 9 2009:
CLICK HERE TO BUY NOW!!!! Lynda Carter's 'At Last' In Stores Now!

The Return Of ‘Wonder Woman?’
Linda Lee

Fredericksburg, Virginia

April 17, 2010

TO PURCHASE TICKETS CALL: 540.654.1012
Download Flyer